Gardee death link to muti killing

INVESTIGATIONS into the murder of Hillary Gardee have uncovered sensational claims of killings for muti, poisoning and people disappearing.

Police are considering adding more charges against the suspects arrested in connection with the murder of Gardee, who was the daughter of former EFF secretary-general Godrich Gardee.

Sister title Sunday Independent reveals that Sipho Mkhatshwa, the first accused in the case, will be investigated for attempted murder.

He allegedly tried to sell two children with albinism from his fiancée’s previous marriage for muti for R2million to an eSwatini national.

Mkhatshwa was arrested after consulting a sangoma from Nkomazi, Mpumalanga, for cleansing after Gardee’s murder.

Police sources claim Mkhatshwa told the sangoma that he had killed someone. A senior police officer from Mpumalanga claims the sangoma added that Mkhatshwa offered one of the children with albinism as payment for his cleansing, but the traditional healer refused.

The sangoma allegedly phoned the police after Mkhatshwa reportedly failed to pay him.

“The sangoma claims Mkhatshwa has been consulting with him for years, and he has been giving him muti for different things,” a source close to the case said.

Mkhatshwa is also to be investigated for the murder of his former wife, Cecelia Sibiya, who died in 2019 after allegedly being poisoned.

Police suspect that Mkhatshwa might have had a hand in her death, as the couple were divorcing.

The sangoma reportedly told the police that Mkhatshwa allegedly came for cleansing after his wife died.

He was to have married his fiancée, the mother of the children, last week.

“We are following a strong lead on the issue of the albino children, but we can confirm that they were to be sold for R2m so they can be killed and used for muti,” said a police officer, who asked to remain anonymous.

Philemon Lukhele, an eSwatini national in exile in South Africa for years, is accused number two in the case and was arrested after Mkhatshwa took police to his guest house in Nelspruit.

He allegedly claimed that 28-year-old Gardee was gang-raped and shot there on April 29, before she was dumped in bushes 45km from Nelspruit.

“Police are following allegations that a security guard who used to work at the guest house was also killed a few weeks before Gardee for allegedly seeing something he wasn’t supposed to see,” the officer added.

There are allegations that Lukhele’s guest house was often used for sex orgies.

“The girls are students around Nelspruit, and it is suspected that they were either drugged or intoxicated before the sex orgies.”

Lukhele was suspended by the Mpumalanga government this week. He had been working in the chief whip’s office.

The University of Mpumalanga this week cancelled the accommodation of 54 students who were staying at three of Lukhele’s guest houses.

It is believed that Gardee’s IT company, LZL Distributors, was responsible for assisting the students with their wi-fi settings and solutions.

Gardee’s business partner, Lwazi Khoza, confirmed yesterday that their company has been responsible for the students’ wi-fi for more than a year.

“We have been doing this for one year and five months in five different guest houses, and it was Hillary who attended to any of the IT problems in those properties,” Khoza said.

He said they dealt directly with the property owners, not the university.

Hillary’s boyfriend, Muxe Zitha, yesterday said that he feared for his life after allegedly being “kidnapped and tortured by two policemen on a farm outside Nelspruit”.

“I am feeling better now, but the doctor suggested that I see a specialist because of internal injuries,” he said.

When the three suspects appeared in court this week, they claimed that they had also been tortured.

The third suspect is Albert Mduduzi Gama, a bouncer and security guard who is believed to have links with Lukhele.

Police yesterday denied reports that a Nigerian, rumoured to be Hillary’s ex-boyfriend, had been arrested as the fourth suspect.

“There is no Nigerian national arrested or wanted in connection with the murder of Hillary,” provincial police spokesperson Levy Mohlala said yesterday.

Mohlala confirmed that more charges might be added to the three suspects’ charges.

The accused’s lawyers couldn’t be reached for comment.