Former Nelson Mandela Bay police sergeant Christina Somekete has been arrested for allegedly attempting to tamper with witnesses before her fraud trial linked to insurance policy scams. (Photo: iStock) In the corridor of the Gqeberha courthouse, three women huddled together in quiet discussion on Monday morning. Their trial, for alleged fraudulent funeral policies, was set to start following their arrests in May 2025.
Two employees at the Department of Education, Pumza Zinto and Lovedalia Wakashe, along with former police sergeant Christina Somekete, filed into the dock after their names were called.
However, the matter did not proceed. State advocate Mark Driman merely asked for a postponement, and the three accused shuffled out of the courtroom with confused expressions on their faces.
Their confusion turned to shock when the lead investigator for the police’s Murder for Money task team, Captain Piet Potgieter, was waiting for them outside, ready to slap cuffs on Somekete.
While Zinto and Wakashe each face a single charge of fraud for claiming a funeral policy for a man not related to them, Somekete faces 15 charges for a number of fraudulent funeral policies. And while her co-accused had stuck to their bail conditions, Somekete allegedly spent the past weekend paying visits to the homes of key witnesses set to testify in the trial.
This matter is one of dozens of dockets currently stacked on the desks of the Murder for Money for Murder task team at the Mount Road police station in Nelson Mandela Bay. These dockets pertain to hundreds of fraudulent funeral policies and upwards of 50 murders linked directly to hits for policy payouts.
In some cases, organised syndicates take out multiple policies on an intended target before arranging with hitmen to execute them. In other cases, individuals working as policy brokers identify trends of people dying shortly after funeral policies are taken out on them, and see the opportunity to register their own policies to benefit from their untimely deaths.
The task team was formed shortly after the police ministry identified the Eastern Cape as a hotspot for these types of killings. Earlier this month, after six individuals were arrested in Polokwane for alleged ties to a funeral policy syndicate, national police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe once again reiterated that while arrests occur across the country, the Eastern Cape remains the epicentre of these violent rackets.
She said Nelson Mandela Bay, and in particular areas like Motherwell, New Brighton, KwaNobuhle and Kwadwesi, was a major concern.
A man believed to be a relative of Somekete went to the Kwazakele police station last year, out of concern for his safety. It is alleged that he told the police several relatives had passed away under suspicious circumstances, and he feared for his safety because he suspected that Somekete had taken out a policy on his life without his consent.
The task team was called in to assist and their investigation revealed that Somekete had filed several claims that linked to murder dockets being investigated at various police stations in Nelson Mandela Bay.
Between December 2021 and October 2025, Koliswa Mhlaba, Nosiphiwo Mhlaba, Nikelo Peyi and Sivive Mondi were murdered in and around Kwazakele and New Brighton. All were verified as distant relations of Somekete, who received funeral policy payouts.
No link was established between her and the murders.
Murdered
However, in December 2023 Somekete received two payouts after Onke Matikinca was murdered in Kwadwesi.
According to documents before court, the policies registered with two prominent financial services providers, nine months before the murder, stated that Somekete was the deceased’s cousin, and she received R120,000 and R53,000 respectively.
The task team’s investigation uncovered that Somekete was not related to Matikinca, and they allege that the claims are tantamount to fraud.
The investigation further revealed that she had registered policies on at least 11 other individuals not related to her, claiming they were cousins or aunts.
A further four policies were taken out on individuals who she claimed to be her children, when in fact they were nieces and nephews. This also amounts to fraud as she allegedly lied about her relation to the subjects of the policies.
These 15 policies are still in force as the subjects are still alive.
While she received R173,000 for the Matikinca payouts, the charges against Somekete related to fraud in the region of R900,000.
Upon further investigation into policies taken out on Matikinca, the task team found that Somekete’s co-accused, Zinto and Wakashe, also had also taken out policies on the deceased, allegedly lying about their relation to him and cashing out tens of thousands of rand in the process.
At the time of her arrest, in May 2025, Somekete was a sergeant at the Kabega Park police station, believed to have been working in the community service centre. However, she has since resigned from the police.
Released on bail
After making her first court appearance shortly after her arrest, she was released on R500 bail. Among her bail conditions was that she was not allowed to have any contact with any complainants or witnesses involved in her case.
The investigation continued and the matter was set down for the trial to get under way on Monday, 23 March 2026.
However, sources close to the investigation said several of the witnesses claimed Somekete had attempted to contact them in recent weeks. Relatives of people appearing on the list of alleged fraudulent policies reportedly contacted the police to say Somekete had visited their homes, looking for the subjects of the policies.
While the police and prosecution indicated they were ready to proceed with the trial, the decision was made to postpone the matter while an investigation into Somekete’s alleged breach of bail conditions took place.
Her bail will probably be revoked and she will remain behind bars for the remainder of her trial.
She will return to court in July when her trial is scheduled to get under way.
Meanwhile, the investigation into a Nxuba loan shark, also linked to dozens of alleged fraudulent funeral policies, continues.
Nomonde Beauty Christmas was initially arrested on 34 charges of fraud after allegedly claiming funeral policy payouts for several deceased people she had no relation to.
According to court papers she raked in more than R640,000, and the police are still trying to link her to more than 110 other policies where she allegedly lied about her relation to the subject of the policy.
She returns to the Nxuba regional court next month.
An alleged fraud and murder syndicate netted in 2023 by the Murder for Money task team is also expected to return to the Eastern Cape Division of the High Court in Gqeberha next month.
/file/attachments/orphans/MurderforMoney_157406.jpg "Siyabulela Mbane, Ntobeko Msome, Xolelwa Msome and Unathi Peter face a string of murder and fraud charges, totalling over R3-million, for their alleged involvement a Murder for Money syndicate. (Photo: Algoa FM)")
Siyabulela Mbane, Unathi Peter, and husband and wife Ntobeko and Xolelwa Msome, face a laundry list of charges including murder, conspiracy to commit murder, fraud, racketeering and money laundering related to nine murders and 29 fraudulent funeral policies. DM