Captain Keshi Mabunda, a top police officer in South Africa, has revealed that greed and gambling addiction are contributing factors to people killing their friends and relatives for money. Mabunda, who was involved in the high-profile case of convicted murderer Rosemary Ndlovu, has now been roped in to assist the investigator handling the case of Sithembile Happiness Xulu, a Gauteng nurse accused of murdering her domestic worker for insurance. Xulu appeared in court with her gardener Simon Mogale for the murder of Busisiwe Nxumalo in Lenasia in 2022 and they are expected to apply for bail on Wednesday.
Mabunda has seen a prevalence of insurance murders, and he has about 20 dockets relating to insurance murders. He said of these were cold cases dating back to 2005. The Rosemary case exposed these cases, and now police are aware of these cases. Insurance companies are also helping the police by supplying information because when they check the claims made, a policy is taken six months prior to the deceased being killed.
Ndlovu was handed six life sentences for the murder of her partner and five family members to claim funeral and life insurance taken out on their lives. Mabunda said the culprits were motivated by greed. "Greed drives these people. They love money. Most of the people who are performing such crimes are gambling addicts. When they get the money, they go and gamble and finish the money and then go back and kill another person," he said.
Some of the culprits seemed to be the most caring in their community. When a person dies, the person comes and offers help, those are the flags that people should be aware of. When you are sick, the person is the one taking care of the person, you can't even suspect them. Protectors use different tactics to win the trust of their target and others, even using other people to join policies on their behalf so they cannot be suspected if the insured person dies.
Understanding such cases is challenging, as you deal with people who are connected and have money. They have contacts with officials in different places, doctors, home affairs [and] pathologists. It is very difficult to investigate these cases because you have to win the family over. If you win them over, you are able to obtain statements that you can present in court."
Following the successful prosecution of Ndlovu, Mabunda was again in the limelight with the arrest of Agnes Setshwantsho in North West in November. She is accused of killing her cousin and child for insurance. Mabunda said that Agnes was the best aunt ever in the family and that Rosemary was the same as well. One of the cases he is investigating involves a police officer who is believed to have murdered about 10 people for money.
Captain Mabunda is seeing worse cases than Rosemary Ndlovu, but the Rosemary case made people aware of insurance fraud and murder for money. He started focusing on insurance fraud cases and assisting his colleagues in investigating similar matters after he nailed Ndlovu.
