EFF deputy president Godrich Gardee opened a case at the Nelspruit police station against several police officers yesterday, April 21.

This follows allegations made by suspended Mpumalanga police commissioner, Lieutenant General Semakaleng Daphney Manamela, of interference in the investigation of his daughter, Hillary Gardee’s, murder.

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Manamela stated that after Hillary was fatally shot in April 2022, three suspects were arrested while a fourth, Rassie Nkune, remained at large.

“It was during the investigation and tracing when Nkune was allegedly communicating with the district commissioner of Ehlanzeni, Major General Dorah Xaba. She was assisting the suspect to hide, not to be arrested, and informing him that he must not communicate with police officers or anyone as she is the investigating officer, of which she was lying. She was quite aware at the time that Nkune was a wanted suspect, but she let him run,” said Manamela

She said Nkune was later arrested in Kwa Thema for two additional murders after he killed a police official and her sister.

“Nkune confessed that he was the one that fatally shot the Gardee girl and prepared to show where the firearm was hidden at KaNyamazane,” Manamela said.

She claimed that retired Mpumalanga deputy police commissioner (detective services) Major General Botsotso Moukangwe was unhappy about Nkune’s confession. According to her, Moukangwe handpicked a constable to transport blood samples to Pretoria for DNA testing, but the samples were transported via Ermelo, which raised suspicions that they might have been tampered with.

Moukangwe said he was the one who arrested Nkune with the assistance of the members of the police Technical Response Team (TRT) and dismissed Manamela as a dreamer.

“She must stop dreaming and this thing of implicating people. She must just face the board of enquiry to answer if she is fit to hold office or not. Her actions are as good as those of a dying horse’s last kick. Being the one who arrested Nkune and being a witness against General Manamela in her own bungling of this particular case how possible is it that I became no longer interested in the case? I have 41 years of experience as a detective and she knows nothing about investigations at all,” said Moukangwe.

A prominent ANC official who was also arrested in connection with Hillary’s murder, Philemon Lukhele, said that Manamela was the one who misled everyone in the matter. “We are definitely suing for wrongful arrest. Manamela was in the forefront of our torture and I am surprised when she now turns around, implicating others as being the ones who meddled in this case,” said Lukhele.

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He was one of three people who were arrested. After having spent months behind bars, the charges against them were withdrawn.

Mpumalanga police spokesperson Brigadier Donald Mdhluli confirmed that the Gardee family had opened a case and said the matter was transferred to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate for investigation.