SERIAL RAPIST SENTENCED TO THREE LIFE TERMS

Rustenburg – On Wednesday 8 May 2024, the Bafokeng Regional Court in Tlhabane sentenced 31-year-old Tshepo Tshwagong to three life terms following his conviction for multiple rapes committed in Phokeng and Boitekong between February 2018 and November 2020. Tshwagong was initially arrested on 6 January 2021 for separate cases of rape and robbery. While serving his sentences, DNA evidence linked him to the 2018 and 2020 incidents. The evidence presented in court included multiple accounts of Tshwagong forcibly dragging women into bushes, strangling, and raping them. Prosecutor advocate Zola Mpayipheli emphasised Tshwagong’s repeated violence and the calculated nature of the attacks. Two of the terms will run concurrently.

The successful resolution of the case was praised by provincial police commissioner lieutenant general Sello Kwena and Dr. Rachel Makhari, director for Public Prosecution in North West, who commended sergeant Obakeng Rasego and advocate Mpayipheli for their effective collaboration in this critical case.