Top South African rapper charged with premeditated murder of wife

A popular South African rapper, Thulani Ngcobo, otherwise known as Pitch Black Afro, was on Thursday charged with “premeditated murder and defeating the ends of justice” after the death of his wife on New Year’s Eve.

The deceased, Catherine Modusane, died at a BnB in Johannesburg following an argument with the rapper on December 31, according to South African media.

Modusane was found dead in a room in the early hours of that day and preliminary investigations showed that she had died of natural causes while an inquest docket was opened.

The pathologist leading the case, however, later found that she had died from unnatural causes, compelling a murder investigation to be opened, reported SowetanLIVE.

“There was an inquest opened but we changed that to murder. The suspect is being detained at Yeoville Police Station and will be appearing at the Hillbrow Magistrate’s court tomorrow [Thursday],” Colonel Lungelo Dlamini said on Wednesday following the arrest of the rapper.

Pitch Black Afro stormed the music scene in 2004 after he released his hit album Styling Gel, one of South Africa’s biggest local hip-hop sellers till now.

The Soweto-born rapper and his wife had reportedly visited a friend in Bellevue, Johannesburg for drinks when a misunderstanding broke out between them.

The couple, who had been married for 23 years, left and Pitch Black Afro allegedly went to sleep at the breakfast and bed the two had booked into.

Media reports state that his wife later ran back into the flat looking disturbed and spent the night with her friends before being escorted to the BnB in the morning.

The artist would later phone the police that his wife had passed away.

The circumstances leading to her death is still unclear, but witnesses claimed to have heard noises coming from the couple’s room.

On Thursday afternoon, Pitch Black Afro appeared before the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court, where he was charged and the case was postponed to January 15.

Pitch Black Afro comes from Soweto and became well-known for performing on stage wearing an afro wig. His first album, released in 2004, contained hit singles Pitch Black Afro, Matofotofo,and A Day In My Life, and sold about 50,000 copies.

He was accused of assaulting a fan and causing damage to property in a Johannesburg mall in 2006.