Tangled web of insurance murde

Photo by Ali Kazal on Unsplash

Tangled web of insurance murder intrigue in Eastern Cape

Woman who paid hit man to kill her husband for the insurance payout gets life in prison. Friend tried to make a similar arrangement.

Tangled web of insurance murde

Photo by Ali Kazal on Unsplash

An Eastern Cape woman who was hoping for a big insurance payout on the life of her murdered husband instead found that, in this instance, crime doesn’t pay.

Instead, a court in Mdantsane, near East London, has sentenced her to life imprisonment for arranging with a hit man to kill her husband for the insurance money. The hit man also received a life sentence.

Hit man was paid R120 000 for murder

The court convicted Nomqondiso Tembu (53) of hiring and Siphiwe Wili (46) and paying him R120 000 to kill her husband, Vusumzi Tembu.

Wili carried out the contract and the body of Vusumzi Tembu was found at Sisa Dukashe stadium in Mdantsane on 14 February 2017.

But the story doesn’t end there. A friend of the convicted woman allegedly decided to use the same hit man to also kill her 41-year-old husband, Ludumo Nabi.

Hawks intervened before second murder

However, this time the outcome was fortunately not the same.

Members of the Hawks Serious Organised Crime Investigation unit were alerted to the plot and the hit man Wili was arrested in November 2017, before the second murder could be carried out.

The Hawks also arrested Busiswa Nabi (41), the wife who had allegedly contracted Wili to do the killing.

Wife’s criminal case is yet to be finalised

The same Mdantsane court sentenced Wili to an additional 13 years for conspiracy to kill Ludumo Nabi. But the sentence will run concurrently with his life sentence for murder.

According to Hawks spokesperson, Lwando Zenzile, Nomqondiso Tembu’s case is yet to be finalised in court.

“It is disheartening for spouses to kill each other for the purpose of cashing insurance policies. The [perpetrators] go to the extent of pretending to be mourning their loved ones. I commend the investigators for leaving no stone unturned in uncovering the plan that also saved a life and many others that were to follow,” said the National Head of the Hawks, Lieutenant General Godfrey Lebeya.