Mologadi Magdeline Mehlape, aged 28, was sentenced to life imprisonment on June 10, 2025,by the Polokwane High Court for the murder of her father, Dr. Malekutu Johannes Mehlape, a senior official in the Limpopo Department of Education. The murder occurred on December 28, 2023, at his home in Mankweng Zone 1, outside Polokwane. Mehlape pleaded guilty to murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances, receiving a life sentence for murder and 15 years for robbery, with the sentences ordered to run concurrently.
She admitted to orchestrating the murder, influenced by a traditional healer’s claim that her father caused her mother’s death using “muthi.” Mehlape hired a contract killer for R200,000, enlisted relatives, and facilitated the crime by unlocking the gate and door, allowing the assailants to ambush and shoot her father while he slept, also robbing him of valuables like his cellphone. The State described the act as “gruesome and heartless,” dismissing her expressed remorse as insincere, noting it was motivated by overwhelming evidence rather than genuine regret.
Four co-accused—Tshepo Gabriel Ranoto, Hlologelo Klaas Mogotlane, Mahlodi Melida Mathole, and Michael Sello Molongoane—face charges including conspiracy to commit murder, murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, and possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition. Their trial was separated and postponed to June 20, 2025, in the Polokwane High Court.
