Rosemary’s Hitlist, the true-crime documentary series about cop-turned-serial-killer Nomia Rosemary Ndlovu, is now available to binge on Showmax.
After topping charts on both Showmax and Twitter, Rosemary’s Hitlist set a new record for the most first-day views on Showmax of any documentary series, ahead of true-crime phenomena like Devilsdorp and Steinheist.
Ndlovu was sentenced in 2021 to six concurrent life terms for the murders of six members of her family, including her sister and the father of her only living child at the time. They were allegedly murdered for killsurance: funeral cover payouts worth over R1.4 million to Ndlovu. Ndlovu was also sentenced to an additional 30 years: 10 years each for fraud, incitement to commit murder, and the attempted murder of her mother, Maria Mushwana, her sister Joyce, and Joyce’s five children.
More policies …
The jaw-dropping finale claims that Ndlovu had taken out 28 other funeral insurance policies – including on her mother and her brother. The finale also reveals that Sergeant Keshi Mabunda was investigating Ndlovu for the alleged murder of her first child, Jaunty Khoza, who died of unnatural causes in 2008, age 13 – leaving his mother with a R12 000+ payout as the only remaining beneficiary of his father, Hand Khoza, Ndlovu’s deceased first husband.
Ndlovu has been charged with two counts of attempted murder for plotting to kill Mabundla and Colonel Nthipe L Boloka, her station commander at Tembisa South police station – while she was already in prison. She pleaded not guilty.
In February 2023, Ndlovu was back in court again: she and her co-accused, another ex-cop, Nomsa Mudau, pled not guilty to charges of conspiring to murder Mudau’s ex-husband, Justice. Both trials are ongoing.
Rosemary’s Hitlist is produced by IdeaCandy, the company behind the SAFTA-winning true-crime sensation Devilsdorp, and directed by Valen’tino Mathibela (the first season of The Real Housewives of Durban, Lebo M – Coming Home), with SAFTA winner Richard Gregory (Steinheist) as a consulting director.
True crime podcast
For everyone who is still processing Ndlovu’s so-crazy-it-has-to-be-true story, Showmax has now launched the trailer for a four-part official companion podcast, made in partnership with True Crime South Africa, which consistently charts as South Africa’s most popular true-crime podcast.
“Of the hundreds of South African crime cases I have researched and covered, I honestly feel like Rosemary’s crimes are some of the most heinous I’ve seen,” says co-host Nicole Engelbrecht, dubbed ‘SA’s true-crime queen’ by Woman and Home. Engelbrecht is the founder of True Crime South Africa and author of Samurai Sword Murder: The Morné Harmse Story. “No matter how many episodes you get of a documentary of this calibre, you are left wanting more and with unanswered questions.”
True-crime YouTuber Mfundo Ndala, who co-hosts the Rosemary’s Hitlist podcast, praises the documentary series as “a great example of the high quality of journalism that exists in South Africa” and says the podcast is “an indepth look into many of the themes and topics explored in the documentary.”
Listen to the trailer for the podcast: https://iono.fm/e/1328178
What: Rosemary’s Hitlist
Where: Showmax
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