Three men and a woman, who orchestrated the murder of Pasika Kwaza, were all sentenced to long term imprisonment by the Western Cape High Court on Friday 22 July.
Namhla Patience Kwaza, who at the time of the murder was married to the deceased, her cousin; Thando Chwayi and two hitmen Sivuyile Shasha and Loyiso Ludidi were all found guilty of the 2016 murder in Kuyasa, Khayelitsha.
The court found that Kwaza hired the two men, Ludid and Shasha with the assistance of Chwayi to kill her husband in order to cash in on insurance and pension money.
At the time of the incident, Kwaza, was watching with her husband.
According to police, three unknown men came into the house, pointing firearms and demanded their cellphones. The men shot the victim twice at close range, fatally wounding him before escaping with his items.
During an investigation, the Provincial Organised Crime Investigation Unit discovered that Kwaza hired hitmen with the help of Chwayi.
“The motive was to cash in on life insurance policies and pension benefits,” read a police report.
Following a marathon trial, the four were sentenced on Friday last week.
Kwaza was convicted of murder and defeating the ends of justice while Chwayi was convicted of murder.
Shasha and Ludidi were both convicted of murder, aggravated robbery and possession of illegal firearm and ammunition.
Kwaza was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment for murder and 18 months for defeating the ends of justice.
Chwayi was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder while Shasha was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder, 15 years for robbery aggravated, three years for possession of an illegal firearm and 18 months for possession of ammunition.
Ludidi was sentenced to life imprisonment, 15 years for robbery aggravated, three years for possession of an illegal firearm and 18 months for possession of ammunition.
The sentences will run concurrently.
Both the Western Cape Provincial Commissioner, Lt Gen Thembisile Patekile and Funeka Soldaat, from Community Policing Forum (CPF) welcomed the sentencing.
Soldaat said many people had forgotten about the incident but applauded the fact that justice was finally served.
“Justice takes a long time, and this leads to frustration of our communities. At times you hope it can be done quicker, because the system doesn’t worry much about the victims other than the perpetrators,” she said.
Soldaat called for peace at homes and said they did not support any crime committed be it a woman or a man.
“If women commit crime, justice must not have mercy on them as we would advocate so if it was a man. Justice needs to be seen carried out and be working for everyone not the rich only,” she said.
