By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Police minister Bheki Cele said on Monday, a multidisciplinary team will be established to deal with the political killings in Mpumalanga
Cele addressed journalists outside the slain councillor’s home on Monday, where he was joined by national police commissioner General Fannie Masemola, among other officials.
The minister said the investigating officers must be given enough time to build a watertight case against the suspects.
“The investigating team will have to do thorough work. By the time those people get arrested, they should not be arrested for withdrawal or acquittal
“While it’s a difficult thing [to do] and the family and community ask the question, we have to [investigate thoroughly]. At the end of the day, results must tell that the work has been done thoroughly,” added Cele.
Sbonelo Ntshangase, Sizwe Mbingo and Sandile Khumalo were gunned down by unknown suspects in the Ethandukukhanya Township.
Tensions ran high between Cele and ANC members outside the home of Ntshangase. The ANC members accused both the national and provincial government of doing very little to curb political killings.
Ntshangase is the second councillor to be killed in a space of two months. Last month, another councillor Muzi Manyathi was shot and killed at a filling station in the area.
Cele admitted a lot needs to be done by the police to deal with political tensions and killings in Mkhondo.
“That understanding of tensions, the root cause is the non-arrest of the perpetrators. Some of them are really known, they have names but ours as the police is not to come and repeat the names, we need to put the face to those names,” said Cele.
Meanwhile assassinated ANC councillor Sabelo Nhleko predicted that he would soon be killed for standing up against corrupt politicians in his municipal area.
Nhleko, 36, a councillor at Mkhondo Local Municipality, was ambushed and gunned down with his friend and a car mechanic at Longhomes Township near the Piet Retief town.
The shooting is believed to have taken place at about 8pm on Friday. with the suspects fleeing the scene before police and paramedics had arrived.
Nhleko posted a live video on social media accusing a prominent Mkhondo mayor Vusi Motha of killing ANC comrades who stood up against corruption.
He had stated that should he get killed, the people of Mkhondo should know who did it.
“Comrades, we are in a crisis. In Mkhondo, we are faced with a thug… who is killing us now. He is killing us for standing up against his failures in the municipality. Please know that if I die, I was killed by (this man).
“He has just killed our brother (Manyathi) who was standing up for the organisation,” said Nhleko in the video.
Nhleko said there was a hit list and his name was on it.
He is the one who issued the hit list. He is the one killing us because his time (at the municipality) is over.
“Go ahead and shoot us, but let the people know the truth… You killed Manyathi… I know I’m next.”
Cele added Mpumalanga police identified “gaps” and considered adopting measures used in provinces like KwaZulu-Natal to address political killings.
“We will be using the same multidisciplinary approach, which we hope will not take too long to crack the case,” he said.