Polokwane, South Africa – December 1, 2025 – The Limpopo High Court sitting in Polokwane has delivered one of the province’s harshest sentences in recent memory, convicting and imprisoning 36-year-old self-styled prophet Mothupi Tjale Tau to three concurrent life terms plus an additional 37 years for a catalogue of horrific crimes that shocked the nation.
Tau, from Brooklyn village in the Sekhukhune District, was found guilty of two counts of premeditated murder, rape, two counts of kidnapping, robbery with aggravating circumstances, and assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm. The court further ordered that his name be permanently entered into the National Register for Sex Offenders, declared him unfit ever to possess a firearm, and barred him from any work involving children.
The National Prosecuting Authority confirmed in a statement issued on Monday that between 29 and 30 December 2023, Tau arrived at the home of Hellen Teiwa Malepe in The Oaks village demanding money. When she could not pay, he dragged her from her house into nearby bushes where he stabbed her repeatedly until she died. He then stole her cellphone and fled.
Returning to the same homestead moments later, Tau found Hellen’s 22-year-old daughter, Kgaogelo Michelle Malepe, inside with her five-year-old nephew. He strangled Kgaogelo until she lost consciousness, raped her, and inflicted such severe injuries that she died at the scene. Before leaving, Tau stuffed a jersey into the mouth of the terrified five-year-old boy, bound his hands behind his back with masking tape, gagged him, and locked him inside the house next to his aunt’s lifeless body. The child remained trapped for hours until neighbours, alerted by his muffled cries, broke in and found the gruesome scene.
Tau had previously inserted himself into the Malepe family by presenting himself as a prophet who could offer spiritual guidance and blessings. Multiple state witnesses testified that the family had trusted him because of this false religious persona.
Despite pleading not guilty and claiming no involvement, Tau was positively linked to the crimes through cellphone records, DNA evidence, witness statements, and the surviving child’s account (given with the assistance of a child psychologist). He was arrested shortly after the murders and remained in custody throughout the trial.
During sentencing, Senior State Advocate Lerato Mohlaka told the court that Tau had been convicted of multiple instances of the three most serious crimes in South African law: premeditated murder, rape, and the violent assault of a minor. She emphasised that the brutality had not only ended two lives but had deliberately exposed a five-year-old child to unimaginable trauma.
Advocate Mohlaka reminded the court that gender-based violence and femicide have been declared a second pandemic in South Africa, with President Cyril Ramaphosa having proclaimed it a national crisis. She argued that the facts of this case had sent shockwaves through The Oaks village and the entire country, and that society expected courts to impose sentences that clearly demonstrated zero tolerance for such atrocities.
Presiding Judge N. T. Ramagoma agreed, describing the crimes as an assault on the soul of the nation and emphasising that the sentence had to reflect both retribution and the protection of society, particularly women and children.
Limpopo Director of Public Prosecutions, Advocate Ivy Thenga, welcomed the outcome, stating that sexual violence violates the constitutional rights to dignity and bodily integrity, and reaffirmed the NPA’s commitment to prosecuting these cases aggressively. She praised Advocate Mohlaka and the investigating officer, Sergeant Shawn Mbhalati of Hoedspruit Police Station, for their outstanding work that secured the conviction and heavy sentence.
In The Oaks village, residents expressed a mixture of relief and lingering grief. Community members described Hellen Malepe as a hardworking mother who supported her family through a small vegetable garden, while Kgaogelo had been saving to study nursing. Mourners have held nightly vigils since the sentencing, with many calling for stricter oversight of self-proclaimed prophets and traditional healers who exploit desperate families.
The case has reignited national debate about the abuse of religious authority in rural areas, where poverty and limited access to formal healthcare often drive people to seek help from unregulated spiritual figures. Women’s rights organisations have hailed the sentence as a strong message that courts will no longer treat gender-based murders leniently, but they stress that prevention through education, economic empowerment, and faster police response remains urgently needed.
For the Malepe family, justice has been served, but the scars run deep. The five-year-old survivor continues to receive trauma counselling. As for Mothupi Tjale Tau, the gates of Polokwane Maximum Security Prison have closed behind him for the rest of his natural life — a final, irrevocable end to a reign of terror that began with false promises of divine salvation.
