Mother of Three-Year-Old Killed and Burned by Partner, Attorney Gets Life Sentence

Mahlako Malebo Rabalao was 26 years old, an IT specialist, and the mother of a three-year-old boy when her charred remains were found inside her Mercedes-Benz near her Midrand home on March 9, 2023. The man convicted of killing her and burning her body was the father of her child and her intimate partner, Thubelihle Sbonakaliso Mpisi, a 30-year-old Johannesburg attorney.

Mpisi has been sentenced to life imprisonment by the South Gauteng High Court, which also found him guilty of malicious injury to property and defeating the administration of justice.

Before her death, Rabalao had told relatives and friends that she intended to end the relationship and move out of the apartment she shared with Mpisi. That decision, the evidence suggested, preceded her killing.

The investigation took four months. Mpisi was arrested in KwaZulu-Natal on July 28, 2023, after abandoning his bail application, and has remained in custody since.

The prosecution, led by Senior State Advocate Michelle Bayat, built its case on circumstantial evidence. Medical experts could not pinpoint the precise cause of death because of the extensive burning Rabalao’s body had sustained, but the court accepted the State’s argument that she had died before the fire was set. Cellphone records, forensic findings, expert testimony, and analysis of Mpisi’s behavior before and after the killing all contributed to the case. Prosecutors demonstrated that he murdered Rabalao and then set her body and vehicle alight to destroy evidence and conceal the crime.

NPA spokesperson Magaboke Mohlatlole confirmed that the court accepted the State’s accumulated case.

Meanwhile, in the weeks after Rabalao’s death, Mpisi had posted a lengthy message on Facebook. Dated March 23, 2023, it cast him as a grieving partner. “Rest in peace, my love. The pain I’m in is so deep. I don’t know where to begin to start picking up the pieces. How do I raise Beanie ungekho?” he wrote, using his son’s nickname. He also thanked supporters: “To all those who have given comfort, it is appreciated, and also to all who have given their continuous support in all ways in this dark moment. Your prayers, visits, company, financial and psychological support is highly appreciated.”

The life sentence is the maximum penalty available under South African law for murder. The court’s decision reflects its assessment of both the severity of the killing and the deliberate destruction of evidence that followed.

Their son, still young, will grow up without his mother. What becomes of him, and who raises him now, remains the quieter question this case leaves behind.