A former nurse and her ex-gardener have been sentenced to life imprisonment after a Gauteng High Court found they plotted and carried out the murder of the nurse’s stepdaughter in a scheme to cash in on insurance policies worth approximately R6 million.
The Gauteng Division of the High Court in Johannesburg sentenced Hapiness Sithembile Xulu (49) and Simon Isaac Mogale (40) to life imprisonment for the murder of Busisiwe Nxumalo, who was Xulu’s stepdaughter and worked as a domestic worker in her household.
In addition to the life sentence, Xulu received seven years’ imprisonment on each of four counts of fraud after pleading guilty to unlawfully taking out life and funeral insurance policies in Nxumalo’s name.
According to evidence presented in court, Nxumalo relocated from KwaZulu-Natal to Johannesburg in September 2021 to live and work for Xulu. Shortly after her arrival, Xulu opened a bank account in Nxumalo’s name and fraudulently secured four life and funeral insurance policies valued at about R6 million.
The court heard that Xulu falsely impersonated her stepdaughter when taking out the policies and named herself as the sole beneficiary.
Only four months after the insurance policies were issued, Nxumalo was murdered on January 17, 2022.
The elaborate scheme began to unravel when insurance companies became suspicious about the circumstances surrounding Nxumalo’s death and the unusually short period between the issuing of the policies and the submission of claims.
Investigations by the insurers led to Xulu being confronted about the policies. She subsequently admitted to having fraudulently obtained them, prompting the matter to be referred to police for further investigation.
The probe was led by Warrant Officer Phatutshedza Ngengenene, who was already investigating Nxumalo’s murder. His investigation uncovered the full extent of the insurance fraud plot and linked the murder directly to the insurance payouts.
Mogale, who had previously worked as Xulu’s gardener and was also her tenant, was convicted largely on the strength of a confession admitted as evidence by the court.
In the confession, Mogale revealed that Xulu drove him to a veld near Daxina Hospital where Nxumalo was lying unconscious. He told the court that Xulu handed him a knife, instructed him to kill her and promised him R60 000 in return.
During sentencing proceedings, Senior State Advocate Leswikane Mashabela argued that Xulu had betrayed the trust placed in her as a healthcare professional by orchestrating a murder motivated purely by greed.
Judge Mohamed Ismail agreed with the State’s submissions, describing Xulu as the mastermind behind the crime. The court found that the murder had been carefully planned so that the accused could financially benefit from the insurance policies.
The judge further found that Mogale willingly participated in the killing after being promised payment and that both accused acted together in carrying out the murder.
The National Prosecuting Authority welcomed the sentences, saying they reflect the criminal justice system’s determination to hold perpetrators of violent, profit-driven crimes accountable.
The NPA said the outcome also sends a strong warning that those who abuse positions of trust and commit premeditated crimes for financial gain will face severe consequences under the law.
