Two men sentenced for double murder at Maseru Bridge
Basotho nationals Tumelo Tsiu and Lineo Walatsa received life sentences for a 2024 shooting that killed two famo musicians.
Two Basotho men, Tumelo Tsiu, 32, and Lineo Walatsa, 30, have been sentenced to life imprisonment by the Ficksburg High Court in South Africa for a double murder. The court convicted them for the June 2024 killings of famo musicians Moholi “Bohome” Mohapi and Rebone David Sephaka, also known as Serurubele, near the Maseru Bridge border post. They were also sentenced to life for two attempted murder counts and nine months for illegal entry into South Africa.
The South African Police Service (SAPS) stated that the two accused were arrested in Lesotho in July 2024 and extradited to South Africa. The shooting occurred around 4am on June 11, 2024, when an unknown number of men in a white Isuzu bakkie opened fire on passengers alighting from a taxi from Johannesburg. Bohome, 31, and Sephaka, 40, both associated with the Terene ea Chakela group, died at the scene. Police recovered a 9mm firearm from the bakkie.
The extradition was a result of collaboration between SAPS and the Lesotho Mounted Police Service (LMPS). The driver of the bakkie, Seun Gert Moloi, 30, was arrested and granted R8000 bail but later died before the trial. Tsiu and Walatsa were acquitted of charges related to firearm possession and conspiracy to commit murder.
Why it mattersTwo Basotho nationals were convicted and sentenced in South Africa for murders that occurred at a border post between the two countries.