News24 | Guilty on all counts: Bafana Mahungela convicted of Kirsten Kluyts’ murder

Bafana Mahungela was found guilty of kidnapping, murdering, and attempting to rape Johannesburg teacher Kirsten Kluyts.

Alex Patrick/News24

Bafana Mahungela was found guilty of Kirsten Kluyts’ murder nearly three years after the pregnant teacher’s body was discovered after a run at George Lea Park in Sandton.

The ruling was handed down in the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg on Friday.

Kluyts, a 34-year-old English teacher, who was 14 weeks pregnant, was found murdered after she failed to finish the run on 29 October 2023.

She was found naked, hidden under an old mat. She had been beaten about the face and head, choked and strangled.

Mahungela, 23, was subsequently arrested and charged with kidnapping, robbery with aggravating circumstances, murder, attempted rape, and obstructing the course of justice. He pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The State’s case hinged on CCTV footage tracing Mahungela’s movements through the park.

READ | Final Footsteps: The Kirsten Kluyts murder

The court heard that private detectives hired by Kluyts’ family, working alongside investigating officer Constable Aubrey Tshisani and local security companies, used the footage to piece together his movements.

The CCTV showed him entering George Lea Park 90 seconds after Kluyts began her second lap, wearing a black shirt, dark pants, distinctive shoes and a bucket hat, carrying only his cellphone.

Later footage showed him wearing a blue T-shirt identical to the one Kluyts wore during the run and carrying a black item.

During his bail hearing, Mahungela admitted taking Kluyts’ clothes, but said he had come across her dead body and was concerned his DNA would be found on her.

His DNA was not found at the scene nor on Kluyts.

In his evidence during the trial, Mahungela denied that the man in the CCTV footage was him. He said he had never seen or known Kluyts and denied following or killing her.

He also did an about-turn and then denied wearing her clothes.

He told the court he had attended a pyjama party in Alexandra on 28 October and slept over. The next morning, he took an early taxi to Sandton but fell asleep and woke up in Benmore, neighbouring Parkmore, where the park is.

He said he was unfamiliar with the area, came across George Lea Park, entered through the main gate, visited a restaurant, interacted with waiters and tried to leave.

He said he got lost in the playground before child minders showed him the gate and that he then walked home and slept.