News
Naledi hitmen paid M50k
MASERU – IKHETHELENG Matabane, the Naledi Funeral Planners’ chief financial officer brutally murdered three weeks ago, was a victim of an elaborate hit involving six people.
The murder was allegedly masterminded by Thabiso Madiba, Naledi’s suspended chief executive.
A forlorn-looking Madiba appeared in the Maseru Magistrate’s Court yesterday accused of Matabane’s murder.
He is also charged with the murder of Naledi’s finance manager Maserema ‘Makong who was having a meeting with Matabane at The Deck restaurant.
Although the facts of the murders were not revealed in court an investigation by thepost has pieced together the chilling details of how Madiba allegedly planned and executed the hit on Matabane.
As thepost hinted two weeks ago, Madiba could have ordered the hit on Matabane as revenge for his investigation that fingered him in the siphoning of M10 million from Naledi over years.
It is Matabane‘s investigation that triggered the board’s decision to suspend Madiba last September and appoint a forensic audit company to investigate his fraud.
The board accused Madiba of fraud, corruption, dishonesty, money laundering, false entries into accounting books, concealment, conflict of interest, maladministration and mismanagement.
He is alleged to have used dubious invoices and companies linked to friends and relatives to loot the company. The report of the investigation is likely to confirm those allegations against Madiba.
thepost can now exclusively reveal that the police suspect that Madiba used about M50 000 to fund the murders.
It is alleged that Madiba offered Molisana Sekoala, a Maputsoe man nicknamed Chakela, M50 000 to eliminate Matabane.
Their meeting allegedly happened in late January.
Sekoala then roped in his friend, Bokang Mabusela, who is from Nazareth. Mabusela led Sekoala to another man who agreed to carry out the hit.
But the man disappeared a few days before he was due to kill Matabane.
When he later contacted Sekoala and Mabusela, the man referred them to a famo gangster who he said was ready to do the heinous job.
Sekoala and Mabusela met the gangster some five days before the murder.
The gangster agreed to do the job but said he would bring another gangster on the mission. Sekoala and Mabusela were to trace Matabane’s movements and alert the two gangsters.
On February 7 Sekoala and Mabusela were captured on a CCTV camera at Matabane’s Off Sale in Ha-Thamae. They allegedly asked for Matabane’s whereabouts.
On February 8 they were captured on the CCTV camera at The Deck, across the roundabout below Pioneer Mall, where Matabane was known to spend most of his time.
CCTV footagesalso shows them on their surveillance mission at the same restaurant on February 9, a day before the murders.
The two men were there again on February 10. This time Matabane was meeting with ‘Makong in the restaurant.
Sekoala and Mabusela ordered food and drinks.
Then a few minutes before the murders the two men suddenly requested to change their order to takeaways and immediately walked out.
The two gangsters walked in a few minutes after they left and shot Matabane and ‘Makong. They casually walked out and jumped into a waiting taxi.
In the investigation that ensued, the police zeroed in on the footage of the car that Sekoala and Mabusela had used on the three occasions they had visited the restaurant while tracking Matabane.
They traced the car to Sekoala who allegedly implicated Madiba as the brains behind the murder.
thepost understands that Madiba had allegedly travelled out of Lesotho a day before the murder.
thepost understands that Madiba had allegedly travelled out of Lesotho a day before the murder.
It is not clear if this was a genuine trip or an attempt to create an alibi.
After the interrogation, the police instructed Sekoala to call Madiba with his phone.
When Madiba answered, the police told him that they could either come to arrest him or he could hand himself over to the Criminal Investigation Department at the Pitso Ground police station.
Madiba is said to have told the police that he was not around but would report to the police station on February 27. He did as he promised and walked into the police station on Monday this week.
The two gangsters who fired the fatal shots are yet to be arrested and the police suspect they have since skipped the country.
Matabane and ‘Makong were killed two days before the Naledi board was due to discuss the final report on the investigation into Madiba’s alleged fraud and corruption.
The two were likely to be key witnesses if the board had brought disciplinary charges against Madiba or reported him to the police.
Matabane, in particular, had some direct knowledge of how Madiba had allegedly creamed off the company.
Before his damning discoveries in mid-2022, Matabane had also investigated Madiba in 2016 and 2018.
Those two investigations revealed that Madiba had allegedly stolen a total of M3.5 million from Naledi.
The last investigation put the missing amount at just over M10 million.
Maliba appeared before Maseru Magistrate Peter Murenzi and was remanded in custody.
His next appearance in court will be on March 15.
Majara Molupe
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