Ntuthuko Shoba, a former JSE analyst, appeared in court for the Tshegofatso Pule murder trial. Here are the latest updates.
UPDATE: The court has postponed the trial until Thursday 10 February 2022, per eNCA. From what we understand, the State has sought for a delay in proceedings to allow time for the next witness to avail themselves.
Pule’s uncle, Tumisang Katake was at the Johannesburg High Court on Tuesday, and speaking to reporters, he revealed his wishes for murder-accused Shoba to take the stand.
“I wish I could articulate more on the defense side I am hoping that they put him on the stand because given that the version that’s been given in court about how he intended to defend himself sounds like there’s a lot of explaining to do. Also just to explain what happened and give his side of the story and put this thing to rest,” he said
Tshegofatso Pule murder trial: Latest updates on witness testimonies
The last time Pule was seen alive, was on CCTV, on the evening of 4 June 2020.
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She was captured leaving the premises of her boyfriend and soon-to-be baby daddy Shoba who, it was later revealed during bail hearings, was, at one point, adamant about his disinterest in fathering a child with the 28-year-old.
Three days later, Pule’s lifeless body was discovered dangling on a tree at the Durban Deep gold mine veld in Roodepoort, Johannesburg.
Testimony of Muzikayise Malephane
Malephane was convicted and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for the murder of Pule in 2021. Following the testimony of the victim’s cousin, Palesa Senokwane, Malephane took the stand to kick-off his testimony for the State.
According to Malephane, he and Shoba have known each other since 2008. However, it was in early 2020, when the former JSE analyst approached him with a dark and twisted proposal.
Allegedly, Shoba wanted a first-trimester pregnant Pule hanged at the Maraisburg bridge, the only sure way to avert accountability as a soon-to-father who was cheating on his wife.
Shoba’s proposal, at first, was an alleged payment of R7 000. Then, Malephane went up the arm and Shoba increased the offer to R20 000. But, this, according to Malephane was not an appropriate sum to meet the gravity of the crime.
Then, the pair agreed on R70 000 as the price for Pule’s head and the plan was hatched to do away with the mom-to-be.
The first attempt to murder Pule was made months prior to her death. Malephane revealed that Pule was sent an SMS, supposedly from a recruitment company, inviting her to an interview at a MacDonald’s in Ornmonde, near Gold Reef City.
Malephane informed the court that, at the time, he had been instructed by Shoba to pick Pule up from the fake interview and kill her on the way to his place. He would later use her cellphone to plant a suicide note on her WhatsApp status.
However, this sordid plan didn’t work because, as it was heard in court on Monday from testimony given by her friend, Pule smelled a rat and did not pitch up for the interview.
Then, on that fateful Thursday 4 June 2020, Malephane claims Shoba paid him a visit at his girlfriend’s house and insisted they carry out the murder.
The convicted murderer revealed that he agreed and went to inspect the Maraisburg bridge that day. After realising that it was going to be too much of a high risk to forge a suicide on a bridge that sees a lot of traffic, he opted for a more spontaneous approach.
The plan, according to Malephane was:
- Shoba was going to pretend to book an Uber trip for Pule that night;
- Malephane was going to pull up, instead, posing as an e-hailer in his Jeep; then
- the murderer was going to do away with Pule.
CCTV footage from the apartment complex Shoba resided captured Malephane pull up in his Jeep and Pule was seen getting inside.
From there, Malephane told the court he drove to Noordgesig, where he shot and killed Pule. Then, he went to Durban Deep to hang her on a tree, before making it home.
Malephane further testified that he received a call from an anxious Shoba who wanted to know if the deed was done, the day after. This, you will recall from Senokwane’s statement, was around the same time members of Pule’s family were frantically trying to get hold of the 28-year-old.
The two alleged murder masterminds met at a Cash Build store in Meadowlands, on Saturday 6 June 2020, where Shoba allegedly assured Malephane that arrangements for his compensation were still being made.
Malephane was arrested a week later, thanks to Shoba who led police to the CCTV footage that showed Pule getting into the convicted killer’s car.
Testimony of Palesa Senokwane
Testifying for the State, Pule’s cousin, Senokwane, recalled the last time she spoke to the victim, on the evening she was last seen alive.
The two cousins were supposed to go baby shopping the following day and the WhatsApp conversation centred around the trip but, in the background, Senokwane could hear Shoba’s voice.
It was approximately 21:00 and according to Senokwane, Pule had informed her that she was at Shoba’s apartment on Westlake Road, in Florida, preparing to leave. The cousin went to sleep that night, expecting a WhatsApp text from Pule when she’d arrived home safely.
However, that never came.
The next day, Senokwane told the court, her calls to the cousin’s phone went unanswered. On Saturday, she called Pule again but, this time, the phone rang twice then switched off.
The cousin informed the court that she had decided to approach the police and file a missing person case after three days went by without a word heard from Pule.
Why did Ntuthuko Shoba not search for Pule?
According to Senokwane, Shoba, who was the last person known to be with Pule on the night she left his apartment, had not made any attempts to reach out to her about his missing girlfriend.
She eventually reached out to him via phone on 7 June 2020 to ask about Pule and, in response, the boyfriend plainly said he had no clue where she was. In their conversation, Senokwane recalled how Shoba had informed her that before Pule left that night, she had found out about his infidelity.
This, Shoba claimed, was the reason why Pule had refused his offer of a lift back home.
The explanation did not sit well with the cousin. Senokwane recalled, in court, how, shortly before her death, Pule had shown her a WhatsApp text exchange where Shoba was adamant on being removed from her WhatsApp status, claiming he didn’t want people involved in his matters.
Of course, we now know that this may have been due to the fact that he was hiding a relationship with his long-time partner Rosetta Moatshe.
At the time this article was published, Shoba’s legal team was cross-examining Senokwane.
