Two sisters from Mpumalanga allegedly attempted to poison their 62-year-old mother a few days before she was killed and raped, reportedly to collect an R80 000 life insurance payout.

Mpumalanga police are investigating a murder case in which it is alleged that the woman's daughters killed her to cash in on her life insurance. Two male accomplices also allegedly gang-raped the woman, News24 reported on Thursday.

The daughters, aged 30 and 39, have been arrested, according to provincial police spokesperson Brigadier Leonard Hlathi.

EWN reported that Hlathi said the sisters allegedly tried to kill their mother just two days before she was murdered, but failed.

"A substance was poured in her liquor that she was drinking, by one of her children. When she came back from the loo, she found her drink was mixed with a chemical and did not continue drinking," Hlathi told EWN.

The younger sister appeared in the Barberton Magistrate's Court on a murder charge on Wednesday, and the case was postponed to February 5.

According to Hlathi, the younger sister invited her mother for a visit on January 6.

"Information indicates that [she] organised her 41-year-old boyfriend, as well as two other male friends and then waited for her mother to arrive. When [the mother] eventually arrived... she was allegedly kidnapped, assaulted, senselessly gang-raped by the two male friends while [the younger sister] and her friend were holding her."

The mother's body was dumped on the side of a road in Barberton, apparently to make her death look like an accident. After the body was discovered, a case was opened and an investigation ensued.

Well planned

"The police investigation revealed that [the] death was well planned," Hlathi said.

It later surfaced that in November 2019, the friend of one of the siblings allegedly took out a life insurance policy in the mother's name to the tune of R40 000. In the case of an unnatural death, such as an accident, the policy would pay out double.

Sowetan reported that the friend allegedly obtained the mother's documents from the two sisters and took out the policy.

The police reportedly instructed the insurance company to stop the payment.

Police suspect the two sisters conspired to have their mother murdered for the insurance money and have launched a manhunt for the remaining suspects, according to Hlathi.

"I've been in the police for 30 years, I have never heard of a horrific incident like this," Hlathi told EWN.