Gifter Ngobenisen has taken on a major role depicting serial killer Moses Sithole in the upcoming true-crime series The ABC Killer.
South Africa (24 June 2025) – For all you true-crime fans, a local series is set to keep you glued to your screens in July. The ABC Killer highlights the crimes of serial killer Moses Sithole as played by Gifter Ngobenisen, who has taken on the role, playing one of South Africa’s most deadly killers.
The ABC Killer is a twisty true-crime documentary series about serial killer Moses Sithole. The story follows the events that took place thirty years ago, when rookie journalist Tamsen de Beer, who was working the night shift at The Star newspaper, received a life-changing call from someone claiming to be South Africa’s most prolific serial killer.
Sithole hunted young, Black women in 1994, across Atteridgeville, Boksburg and Cleveland in Gauteng, hence the ABC in his nickname. Through repeat conversations with Tamsen de Beer, the two developed a disturbing rapport.
“It was like a journey I was on with him,” says de Beer in the trailer. “We were bonded in a strange, ugly way. I was hoping he was okay all the time, which is absolutely crazy.”
He was finally caught and convicted of 38 murders, 40 rapes and six robberies, all committed in the space of just over a year. He is currently serving 2,410 years in prison.
The shocking true-life events have now been carefully re-enacted and put togther to uncover the mind behind the killer as well as to unpack the case as a whole, thanks to contributions from people personally involved in the case. The series is filled with first-hand accounts, insights from experts, detectives and South Africa’s first profiler Micki Pistorius. Former detectives Ettiene “Vinyl” Viljoen, Frans van Niekerk, and Paul Nkomo weigh in on the biggest case of their careers.
“This was the biggest case of our history at the time,” says former detective Derrick Nosworthy in the trailer. “I don’t think we had ever had a case where there were so many people murdered by potentially one offender.”
Director Jasyn Howe and SAFTA-winning writer Andy Petersen had access to transcripts of the telephone conversations between Sithole and de Beer at The Star, as well as her diary entry from the night of the first phone call, not to mention letters Sithole wrote to Dr Del Fabbro.
Most movingly, survivor Buyiswa Swakhamisu relives the day of her attack, sharing how Sithole used the promise of work to convince her to follow him. She also details her own brave pursuit of justice.
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The cast put on a gripping show during the re-enactment scenes. Gifter Ngobenisen plays Sithole, with Louise van der Merwe as Tamsen de Beer and Monte-Carlo Golden Nymph and SAFTA Best Actor nominee Graham Hopkins as Judge George Curlewis.
Take a look at the trailer below and save the date for the 22nd of July 2025.
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