Cops nab third suspect in Mpumalanga pensioner's insurance killing

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Johannesburg - One of the women alleged to be have held down a Mpumalanga pensioner as two men raped and later strangled her has been arrested after a month on the run. The woman had fled Mpumalanga following the arrest of the pensioner's two daughters, Nonhlanhla and Mampune Mthunywa who are alleged to have orchestrated her murder for an R80 000 death benefit payout. According to Mpumalanga police spokesperson Brigadier Leonard Hlathi , the 41-year-old woman had fled to Gauteng after Wanter Dlamini's killing. "After a month-long search, the woman alleges that she was hiding somewhere in Gauteng but the net had closed in on her and there was no way she would further escape her day in court," Hlathi said The woman was expected to appear in court on Monday. Wanter's oldest daughter Mampune, was also expected to appear in the afternoon for a bail application which Hlathi said they would oppose.

Allegations are that on November 2019, a R40 000 insurance policy was taken by the 41-year-old woman in Dlamini's name. According to the terms of the police, the benefit would be doubled should she die an unnatural death.

On January 3, Nonhlanhla allegedly tried to kill her mother through poisoning. However, that plan failed when Dlamini suspected that her drink had been spiked.

A few days later on January 6, she invited her mother to her home where it's believed she had arranged for the 41-year-old woman as well as her boyfriend and her sister's lover to attack her.

Hlathi said when Dlamini eventually arrived at Nonhlanhla's place, she was allegedly kidnapped, assaulted, senselessly gang-raped by the two male friends whilst her daughter and her friend were holding her.

"When the suspects were done with their barbaric deeds, they strangled Dlamini to death, wrapped her body with a blanket and then hid it in an outside toilet," Hlathi said.

Later that day Mampune arrived and was informed that her mother's body had been hidden in the toilet.

"The sibling was restless to a point where she organised transport which helped to remove Dlamini's body and dumped it in a nearby veld," Hlathi said.

A passerby stumbled upon Dlamini's body in the veld and alerted police.

Both the daughters were arrested while the woman and the alleged rapist fled.

The Star