The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) has secured warrants of arrest from Kempton Park Magistrate’s Court for Prisons Civil Rights Union’s (POPCRU) chief executive officer, Zwelinkosi Reuben Mdletshe, and Robert Sheriff.
Their pursuit comes in the wake of an apparent elaborate plot to kidnap and murder current serving members within the leadership of POPCRU, said Hawks spokesperson Brig Hangwani Mulaudzi.
The Hawks are asking for help in locating these two suspects wanted for alleged conspiracy to kidnap and murder prominent police and POPCRU senior officials.
Mulaudzi said the investigation started in September and so far it had revealed there was apparent misappropriation of funds that was carried out through the POPCRU Investment Group of Companies (PIGC). These substantial transactions were allegedly embezzled since 2016.
A Lesotho national, Neo Letele (34), was arrested in Kempton Park on November 6. Letele is apparently the middleman who was instructed by Mdletshe and Sheriff to source an assassin who was to be paid R1-million to execute the hit.
This was in an attempt to silence those who wanted the two suspects to account for the funds, Mulaudzi added.
Letele made his first court appearance in Kempton Park Magistrate’s Court on November 7 and a follow-up on November 13. The case was postponed to November 20 for a formal bail application while investigations continue.
Members of the public who may have knowledge of Mdletshe’s and Sheriff’s whereabouts can contact Sgt Steve Ndabambi on 082 559 4613 or Capt Naborth Mavuso on 082 461 9486.
