Bafana Mahungela Found Guilty Of Kirsten Kluyts Murder In Johannesburg High Court

The long-running Kirsten Kluyts murder trial has reached a dramatic conclusion after the Johannesburg High Court found Bafana Mahungela guilty on four charges linked to the death of the pregnant Sandton teacher.

Judge Ian Cox delivered the verdict on Friday, 11 September 2026, bringing months of evidence and legal arguments to a close. Mahungela was convicted of murder, robbery, defeating the ends of justice and attempted rape.

The verdict follows a case that has drawn intense public attention since Kluyts was killed during a local athletic event in Sandton on 29 October 2023.

The Delta Park High School teacher was later found dead and partly concealed along a jogging route in George Lea Park. Kluyts was pregnant at the time of the attack, adding another devastating dimension to a case that shocked the community.

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Mahungela, who was 23 when he was arrested, was taken into custody in November 2023 at a student residence in Parkmore.

Throughout the proceedings, he maintained his plea of not guilty, while the State built its case around physical evidence, surveillance footage and his own account of what happened after Kluyts was attacked.

Bafana Mahungela Verdict Follows Crucial CCTV Evidence

Central to the State’s case against Bafana Mahungela was surveillance footage obtained from the area around George Lea Park. Investigators said the footage showed Mahungela wearing a black T-shirt and trousers before the attack, before later capturing him leaving the area wearing a blue shirt that was identified as the same clothing Kluyts had worn earlier that morning.

The evidence surrounding Kluyts’ clothing became particularly significant during the trial. Mahungela acknowledged that he had removed her clothes and left her body naked in bushes, but claimed he had done so while trying to assist her and remove fingerprints after finding her. Her clothes were subsequently recovered from a nearby drain.

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The post-mortem evidence painted a grim picture of the final moments of Kluyts’ life. Medical findings attributed her death to blunt-force head trauma and strangulation, while the State previously told the court that the fatal assault took approximately eight minutes.

Kirsten Kluyts Murder Case Moves Towards Sentencing

With the conviction handed down, the Kirsten Kluyts murder case will now move into its sentencing phase. The Johannesburg High Court postponed the matter to 27 October, when arguments on the appropriate sentences for the offences will be heard.

The conviction marks a major development in a case that has remained before the courts since Mahungela’s arrest in November 2023. Earlier proceedings included repeated bail applications, with the courts ultimately ordering that he remain in custody while the matter proceeded.

The State had initially charged Mahungela with kidnapping, robbery with aggravating circumstances, murder and attempted rape, with defeating the ends of justice also forming part of the later charge sheet. The latest judgment, however, records convictions for murder, robbery, defeating the ends of justice and attempted rape.

For Kluyts’ family, friends and former school community, the verdict closes one chapter of a painful three-year ordeal, but another significant court date now lies ahead. Mahungela will return to the Johannesburg High Court on 27 October for sentencing arguments, after which the court will determine the punishment for the offences on which he has been convicted.