Police Minister addresses political killings
The taxi violence task team is said to have been roped in to ascertain whether some of the suspects arrested are not linked to other crimes in the taxi industry.
NEWCASTLE – Minister of Police, Nathi Nhleko on July 28, held a media briefing to address the recent alleged political killings that have gripped KwaZulu Natal and other areas, leading up to the local government elections.
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A shocking thirteen ANC members were killed in a similar manner, and a special task team was set-up to investigate the murders.
Minister Nhleko noted the bulk of the political killings took place in KwaZulu Natal, with other incidents also happening in areas such as Marikana, Eastern Cape, Johannesburg and Mpumalanga.
“The purpose of this press briefing is to largely address a matter that arose latest May/ June until now, and has been dubbed political killings. Given the heightened levels of concern, we felt it important to provide clarity,” said Minister Nhleko.
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Information was not provided on all cases, as some were still under police investigation. However, suspects have been arrested in connection with the killings outside KZN.
Police are also not ruling out that the suspects involved in these crimes may be implicated in the politically motivated crimes in other provinces.
“We have a focus team looking into these issues as and when they arise. The NPA is also working with us in terms of processing and fast tracking these particular cases and briefing of particular teams or grouping of prosecutors that are going to be focused on these particular killings.”
Objectives of the task team in KZN were to:
“1. Immediately attend to, investigate and prosecute all reported incidents of politically motivated crimes in KZN,
2. Implement multi-disciplinary troika-methodology consisting of intelligence-gathering crime investigation and prosecution,
3. Ensure those who commit politically motivated crimes are arrested and we shall always object to bail granted to such suspects, and ensure they are prosecuted as speedily as possible to instill public confidence and stability, and
4. Create an atmosphere conducive to the free and fair elections.”
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The task team formed consists of seven detectives, five crime intelligence members, four members from the Hawks (DPCI) and eleven members from the Taxi Violence task team.
The taxi violence task team is said to have been roped in to ascertain whether some of the suspects arrested were not linked to other crimes in the taxi industry.
“In summary to date, we’ve had 25 politically related violent incidents reported to SAPS, 14 of those cases are murder and attempted murder cases. Two of those are cases of arson, two of the 25 relate to public violence cases and two other cases relate to assault GBH and pointing of firearms. One case relates to damage to property and the other case relates to culpable homicide,” noted the minister.
As far as the murder cases reported to SAPS to date, there have been seven arrests made and two arrests on attempted murder. On possession of unlicensed firearms, three arrests were made. Eight arrests pertaining to public violence were made, and assault GBH and pointing of firearm resulted in three arrests.
