Pietermaritzburg: Convicted hitmen linked to taxi industry-related murders, Muzi Sibiya (42) and Nduduzo Shezi (36), were each sentenced to life imprisonment plus a combined 80 years’ imprisonment by the Pietermaritzburg Regional Court on Friday, 29 August 2025. The duo was found guilty of murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances.
According to South African Police Service, on 4 July 2022, Sibiya and Shezi, together with at least four other suspects, stormed a post office at Tugela Ferry Mall in Msinga and robbed employees of an undisclosed amount of money intended for SASSA beneficiaries. The suspects also stole personal belongings from two employees, as well as a jacket and a two-way radio from a security guard.
As they fled in a getaway vehicle parked outside, the suspects fired shots randomly. Tragically, Nomusa Ntshele, a woman standing in a queue at a nearby ATM, was struck and died at the scene.
Police from Msinga immediately responded and pursued the suspects. They abandoned their vehicle and fled on foot into nearby bushes. Sibiya was later found hiding inside a cave in possession of the stolen jacket, two-way radio, and a portion of the stolen money. Profiling revealed that he was a taxi driver and suspected hitman from the Msinga area, which led the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Taxi Violence Unit to take over the investigation.
Evidence recovered from the suspects’ abandoned vehicle also linked Shezi to the crime. A search for him led investigators to a prison in Gauteng, where he had already been arrested by the Gauteng Taxi Violence Unit for a separate taxi industry-related murder. He was subsequently charged for the Msinga murder and robbery cases.
Both accused were declared unfit to possess firearms. The search for the remaining suspects is ongoing, and police remain confident of further arrests.