A 38-year-old woman, Charmaine Bila, from Klerksdorp in the North West, is facing a series of serious charges, including orchestrating separate murders of her cousin Sandy Maleshane and her father, Thys Safatsa. She is also faces one attempted murder charge for trying to kill her cousin's boyfriend. This crime, which emerged as a plot for insurance payouts, gripped the country that seems to be escalating with the killings initiated by women to their loved ones and relatives to gain insurance payouts.
The accused was arrested on Friday, November 17, and appeared in the Stilfontein Magistrates Court on Monday, November 20. Bila's arrest emanates from an incident wherein 26-year-old Sandy Maleshane and her 31-year-old boyfriend were allegedly shot at while in a house at Khuma township outside Stilfontein on September 24. Maleshane's boyfriend was reportedly confronted and shot while responding to a knock at the door.
Although he managed to flee and was finally rushed to the hospital for medical treatment, his girlfriend was declared dead at the scene after two male suspects allegedly shot her too. The Provincial Police Spokesperson, Sabata Mokgwabone said Bila was re-arrested in November after investigations linked her to the death of Thys Safatsa, whose charred body was found in Klerksdorp.
An inquest docket was opened after Sefatsa's death. "The meticulous investigation, with the guidance of the prosecution, linked Bila with the incident, and the inquest docket was changed to murder after it came out that Sefatsa was also killed for an insurance claim," Mokgwabone added. He further said investigations into the cases revealed that the accused positively claimed R320 000 in respect of the two deceased, who were her cousin and father, respectively.
In last week's publication, Mo Media reported about Agnes Setshwantsho, another woman from the North West Province who appeared before the Molopo Magistrates Court in November. She was arrested for the alleged murder of her niece in Mmabatho. The subsequent fraudulent insurance claim and her bail proceedings were postponed to December 6.
Both cases of Setshwantsho and Bila are similar to those of former policewoman Nomia Rosemary Ndlovu, who was found guilty of killing five relatives and her boyfriend. The six people were murdered between 2012 and 2018. The court found out that Ndlovu profited from life insurance payouts. In 2021, Ndlovu was sentenced to six concurrent years of imprisonment for the murders, a total of thirty years, and ten years for the attempted murder of her mother.
Meanwhile, Bila remains in police custody until her next court appearance on December 7. The North West Provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant General Sello Kwena and the Director for Public Prosecution, Dr Rachel Makhari, lauded the police, prosecution and everyone for collaborative efforts that led to the breakthrough. They further warned that no stone would be left unturned to ensure justice was served.
