Themba Dube, an illegal immigrant who wreaked havoc in Seshego, Limpopo, received eight life sentences and an additional 88 years for kidnapping, raping and killing six women.
Themba Dube sentenced to eight life terms
On Tuesday, following a straightforward trial helped by Dube’s partial cooperation — he led police on a tour of his killing grounds, Judge Gerrit Muller sentenced Dube to eight life terms, including 88 years, for:
six counts of murder;
five counts of robbery;
two counts of rape;
one count of extortion;
one count of theft;
one count of possession of stolen property; and
one count of illegal entry into South Africa as an immigrant.
The 35-year-old serial killer skirted five counts of rape, two counts of aggravated robbery and one count of murder.
As reported by IOL News, Dube entered South Africa as an illegal immigrant in 2008 and remained under the radar, executing his sadistic plan of raping and killing vulnerable jobseekers without tainting his unassuming character.
To residents of Zone 3 in Seshego, Dube was a friendly neighbour who caused no trouble. However, lurking beneath the facade of a quiet and introverted man, was one of South Africa’s most diabolical serial killers.
The 36-year-old Zimbabwean national learned of his fate at the Polokwane High Court, on Tuesday, more than a year after he was arrested for stealing a woman’s cellphone.
It was the stellar work of Polokwane detectives at the time, who diligently linked the stolen cellphone to a woman who was the subject of a kidnapping case filed in Lebowakgomo a month earlier, that broke the serial killer investigation.
This crucial discovery led investigators down a rabbit hole of clues and finally, using information from Dube and other leads, detectives managed to develop the killer’s alleged pattern.
Each of the seven women who were discovered in various bushy areas in Seshego, Polokwane, Mankweng and Westenburg, had left their homes saying they were meeting with a man who had promised them employment.
Dube, it was later found, lured the women to different locations, and raped and killed them.
Here are the names of the women Dube killed:
- Sarah Moitswadi Mathiba, 42, was kidnapped in Lebowakgomo, in October 2021.
- A 34-year-old Lesotho national, Moleboheng Mothibeli, went missing in Polokwane, in October 2021.
- Eva Khomotso Makhura, 41, went missing in Seshego, in October 2021.
- Mpho Sanah Sinyatsi, 34, went missing in Luthuli Park Extension, in October 2021
- Andrea Cholo, 25, was kidnapped at Seshego in September 2021.
- Chisimango Gumbo, 48, a foreign national, went missing at Seshego in August 2021.
- Jane Letswalo, 42, whose body was found next to Peter Mokaba stadium in Polokwane, in August 2021.
It’s unclear at this time, which of these women’s murders Dube was acquitted from.