Appreciate Makhubela, a multi-talented social media sensation and podcaster from Limpopo, was arrested for the kidnapping, abduction and murder of a 29-year-old man who was forcibly taken to a rehabilitation camp.
Makhubela, who runs a rehabilitation programme called Discipline Camp, was first charged with kidnapping and abduction but the charges were commuted to murder after the victim died in hospital after he was allegedly violently beaten up for refusing to comply with the “rehabilitative measures” of the camp.
Sunday World can exclusively reveal that Makhubela , who is also a motivational speaker, was arrested and detained at Modjadjiskloof Police Station on Tuesday and appeared in Modjadjiskloof Magistrate’s Court on Thursday, where he was
denied bail.
Makhubela’s arrest was revealed by a detective who did not want to be identified because he is not allowed to speak to the media.
According to the detective, Makhubela – who recently made headlines for leaving the popular Limpopo Podcast, a platform he co-hosted alongside rapper and producer Omee Otis! – allegedly kidnapped the victim from his residence in Ga-Sekgopo
village and took him to his camp on July 2.
The outspoken icon, who cited feeling unappreciated and undervalued as the primary -reasons for cutting ties with Limpopo Podcast, allegedly took the victim to his rehabilitation camp without the expressed permission of his parents.
Discipline Camp is a programme Makhubela started recently, and children who have drug and alcohol-related problems and or are disobedient to their parents, are taken by force and sent to the camp, where they are made to perform taxing tasks in a bid to rehabilitate them.
“The parents of the victim became worried when they did not see him for several hours. After investigations, they discovered that the victim was kidnapped and taken to the camp in Modja-djiskloof.
“The parents opened a case of kidnapping against the podcaster,” said the detective.
The police officer said the kidnapping and abduction case was commuted to murder after the victim popped his clogs.
The cop said preliminary investigations revealed that the victim was held hostage in a house in GaKgapane township and had been severely assaulted for refusing to comply with the camp’s “rehabilitative measures”.
When they realised that he needed medical attention after the brutalisation, alleged the cop, they rushed him back to his residence on July 10.
He was immediately taken to Mankweng Hospital, where he was admitted in critical condition. He succumbed to his injuries on July 14.
Limpopo police spokesperson Malesela Ledwaba confirmed that the suspect was arrested and charged with murder.
“Forensic post-mortem analy-sis was conducted on 18 July 2025 and a pathologist confirmed that the deceased has sustained severe injuries. A case of an inquest was then changed to murder on Monday 21 July 2025 and transferred to Modjadjiskloof police for further investigations,” Ledwaba told Sunday World.
“An immediate manhunt of the suspect was executed by the members of Mopani Tracking Team together with Modjadjiskloof police until the suspect was subsequently apprehended the next day in the policing area on Tuesday 22 July 2025 and charged with the murder,” he said.
