The brutal killing took place on 30 March 2024 when Mundalamo followed his wife to a Sunday worship, entered the church armed with a firearm, and shot her twice in the chest while she was leading the choir in song. The attack unfolded in front of dozens of horrified congregants, turning a place of peace and prayer into a scene of unimaginable terror. Mbedzi, a beloved choir conductor and owner of Funi’s Hair Salon, died instantly.
After firing the fatal shots, Mundalamo fled the church in a silver-grey Toyota Corolla. A province-wide manhunt was launched the same day. Less than 24 hours later, on 1 April 2024, he handed himself over to police at Thohoyandou SAPS and was formally charged with murder.
The case, investigated by Constable Mmbengeni Clovis Mashamba of the Thohoyandou Detective Service, endured nearly 21 months of forensic examinations, witness testimonies, and multiple court postponements before reaching final judgment. On Wednesday, 10 December 2025, the court found Mundalamo guilty of premeditated murder and imposed a life sentence — the most severe penalty available under South African law for such offences. In addition, he was declared unfit to ever possess a firearm again.
Limpopo police spokesperson Colonel Malesela Ledwaba welcomed the outcome, stating that the sentence sends an unequivocal message that acts of gender-based violence, even when committed in sacred spaces, will be met with the full might of the law.
The murder shocked communities across Vhembe District and reignited national outrage over South Africa’s femicide crisis. Patience Funanani Mbedzi was widely known and affectionately known as “Funi”. She was a vibrant entrepreneur who employed several women at her popular hair salon in the Khubvi area and dedicated much of her free time to her church. Fellow choir members described her as the heartbeat of their worship team — a woman whose powerful voice and warm spirit uplifted everyone around her. On the morning she was killed, she had been standing at the front of the congregation, leading a hymn, when her estranged husband stormed in and ended her life.
Court proceedings revealed a deeply troubled marriage marked by separation and escalating tension. Although no formal protection order had been issued before the murder, family members later testified that Mbedzi had been trying to distance herself from Mundalamo in the months leading up to the attack.
The fact that the killing occurred inside a church — a place universally regarded as a sanctuary — amplified public horror. Congregants who witnessed the shooting spoke of lifelong trauma, with some saying they still struggle to return to that building for worship.
Mbedzi’s younger sister, Lienet Mbedzi Mudau, addressed the media outside court after sentencing, expressing bittersweet relief: “Justice has finally been served, but no sentence will bring our Funanani back. She was taken from us in the cruelest way, in the very place where she felt safest. We hope this life sentence brings some comfort to her children and shows other women that the system can work when we fight.”
The case has added another painful chapter to South Africa’s grim femicide statistics. According to the latest crime statistics, a woman is killed by an intimate partner every six hours in this country. Advocacy organisations have used Mbedzi’s story to renew calls for faster issuance of protection orders, mandatory counselling for couples in crisis, and stricter controls on firearm ownership by individuals with histories of domestic conflict.
As Mundalamo begins a sentence from which there is virtually no prospect of early release, the village of Makonde Shadani and the wider Limpopo community continue to mourn a woman whose life was defined by service, faith, and joy — a life cut short in a hail of bullets on an ordinary Sunday morning.
Patience Funanani Mbedzi’s voice has been silenced, but her story continues to echo as a powerful reminder of the urgent need to end gender-based violence in South Africa.
