Dumisani Makhubela was 28 when the Middelburg circuit court in Mpumalanga convicted him, together with Johannes van Rooyen, on 21 counts that included murder, rape and robbery with aggravating circumstances. The trial concerned seven murders committed in the township of Mhluzi, outside Middelburg, in 2005. Makhubela lived in Mhluzi. Van Rooyen, aged 27 at the trial, came from Kwaguqa in Witbank. Both men pleaded not guilty and both declined to give evidence once the State had closed its case. Judge Aubrey Ledwaba delivered the verdict on October 1, 2007.
In late May 2005 four people from one household died in Mhluzi. At the trial they were named as Lassie Motebu, 35, Nokuthula, 32, and two girls, Mahlatse, 9, and Koketso, 8. Police opened a murder case on May 27, 2005.
The trial dealt with seven murders in all. Besides the four members of the household, two teenagers died in Mhluzi in 2005. Makhubela appeared in the Middelburg magistrate's court on a charge connected with their deaths, and his case was postponed to July 16. The names of the other victims, and the dates of their deaths, are not on record.
Police arrested two Mhluzi men, J.M. and P.M., without a warrant on May 29 and 30, 2005 over the four deaths. They first appeared in the Middelburg magistrate's court on May 31, 2005 and were remanded in custody through thirteen further remand orders. While they were still held, Makhubela and Van Rooyen were arrested and added as accused in the matter. The Director of Public Prosecutions declined to prosecute the first two men, who were released on February 10, 2006 when the charges were withdrawn. The Constitutional Court later found their arrest and detention unlawful. On May 14, 2021 it ordered the Minister of Police to pay R550,000 to J.M. and R500,000 to the estate of P.M., who had died during the litigation, for the whole period of detention. Earlier, the Supreme Court of Appeal on April 21, 2020 had limited liability to the period before June 14, 2005.
The trial began before Judge Ledwaba in the Middelburg circuit court, and by September 6, 2007 the court was hearing evidence. The two men were charged with 23 counts, including seven of murder and seven of rape. The State led evidence linking each man to the case.
When the State closed its case the defense called no evidence on the merits. On October 1, 2007 the judge found that the State had proved its case beyond doubt on 21 counts. He did not follow the prosecution on three counts, and acquitted both men on two counts involving a minor and one count under the arms law. The case was postponed to the following Thursday so that the defense could lead evidence in mitigation.
Both men were sentenced to life imprisonment, as the Supreme Court of Appeal stated in April 2020 and the Constitutional Court in 2021. The date of sentence and the breakdown of the terms are not on record. No criminal appeal by Makhubela is on record, and his present place of detention is not on record.
A circuit court in South Africa sits as a division of the High Court, with a judge hearing cases away from the seat of the court. The convictions of 2007 fed into a civil case brought by the two men wrongly held in 2005, which passed through the High Court, the Supreme Court of Appeal and the Constitutional Court. That case concerned the Minister of Police and the length of the period for which the State was liable; it did not reopen the guilt of Makhubela or Van Rooyen.
Two men first held over the four deaths in Mhluzi were never tried, and the Constitutional Court found their arrest and detention unlawful. The names and dates of three of the seven victims are not on record.
Late May 2005: four members of one household are killed in Mhluzi, Middelburg.
May 27, 2005: police open a murder case.
May 29 to 30, 2005: two unrelated Mhluzi men are arrested without a warrant.
May 31, 2005: those two men first appear in the Middelburg magistrate's court.
June 2005: Makhubela appears in the Middelburg magistrate's court on a charge over the deaths of two teenagers; case postponed to July 16.
February 10, 2006: charges against the two wrongly held men are withdrawn and they are released.
September 2007: trial before Judge Aubrey Ledwaba in the Middelburg circuit court.
October 1, 2007: Makhubela and Van Rooyen convicted on 21 counts; acquitted on three.
April 21, 2020: Supreme Court of Appeal judgment in the civil case.
May 14, 2021: Constitutional Court judgment in the civil case.