Woman Who Hired Assassins To Kill Her Husband Jailed For Life

A 47-year-old South African woman who paid assassins R20,000 to kill her husband so she could cash in on insurance policies in 2019 was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Mpumalanga High Court on Monday, March 13, 2023. 

Phumaphi Gloria Gwebu, 52, and her husband Sipho Shadrack Dimba, 52, lived at Msogwaba Trust with their children.

Gwebu pleaded guilty.

Gwebu stated in her plea explanation that she took out five insurance policies for Dimba, one of which was to pay R530,000 upon his death.

“She waited until the policies matured and arranged with the hitmen a few weeks before they killed the deceased,” National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Monica Nyuswa said.

The hitmen entered the house during the night on December 12, 2019, as planned, and murdered Dimba.

They went straight to his bed, strangled him while Gwebu was present, and threw his body into a nearby river before fleeing.

His body was discovered two days later.

"A year later, the accused was arrested after one of the killers confessed to police and implicated her as the mastermind behind the murder."

Eugene Mathebula, a prosecutor's advocate, told the court that the murder was premeditated, brutal, and motivated by greed.

The court saw no reason to deviate from the mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison.