TONGA – A police constable was shot execution style in his bed around midnight on Friday. In a bizarre twist of events, seven people, including a law-enforcement colleague were arrested for his murder.
Const Sifiso Michael Mabuza (27) was still alive and cried out to his mother and nephew for help.
He then succumbed to his wounds before help could arrive. This is according to Mpumalanga police spokesman Brig Selvy Mohlala.
He said 11 hours later, after diligent work from the SAPS to catch who was responsible for killing one of their own, the tracking unit nabbed the suspects. Mohlala said they managed to track and trace down a vehicle in Matsulu thought to have been used as the getaway car after the alleged hit.”Two occupants in a silver Volkswagen Jetta were arrested at around 11:00 on the same day.”
He said they then took the police to the house where the plot to kill Mabuza was apparently orchestrated.”The police surprised three more suspects in the house who were also arrested.”
Mohlala said the investigators interrogated them and found out that there were two more involved in the scheme.
To their shock they found one of the new suspects was a police constable and friend of the deceased.”That brought the total number of people apprehended to seven.”
The provincial commissioner of Mpumalanga, Lt Gen Thulani Ntobela, congratulated members of the tracking unit for their diligent work.
“I am proud of the good work done by the cops in arresting the suspects so swiftly and hope that this will be a lesson to others who think of laying a hand on our members. “This will instil confidence in our communities that there are dedicated police members who want to fight crime by all means,” said Ntobela.
The suspects were scheduled to appear in the Tonga Magistrate’s Court yesterday. At the time of going to press, the outcome of their appearance was not yet known.
