Uyinene Mrwetyana, who was allegedly murdered by a post office employee who was appointed despite having a carjacking conviction. | Image: Twitter
The man who was arrested for the murder and rape of UCT student Uyinene Mrwetyana has been reportedly fired from the post office.
The South African Post Office board convened a dedicated sub-committee to investigate the appointment of the man who allegedly raped and murdered Mrwetyana last week.
The department of communications, telecommunications and postal services confirmed to TimesLive that the suspect had been dismissed as “he made himself guilty of gross misconduct by intentionally misleading the organisation and stating under oath that he had never been convicted of any criminal office”.
The Citizen earlier reported that the post office was horrified by the news of the murder of Mrwetyana at the Clareinch Post Office.
The 42-year-old post office employee allegedly confessed and faces charges of murder, rape and defeating the ends of justice as it also emerged he had a previous criminal conviction. He is behind bars awaiting his next appearance in November.
The man, who cannot be named in terms of a court order, had been employed despite an alleged criminal record, Communications and Digital Technologies Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams previously revealed.
Ndabeni-Abrahams had met with SAPO on Friday to receive a comprehensive report following Mrwetyana’s brutal death.
She said the SAPO heads of human resources, as well as security and investigations, had been placed on precautionary suspension while the investigation was proceeding.
Mrwetyana’s remains were found in Lingelethu West, Khayelitsha, a few days after she was last seen alive.
At her funeral in East London, Police Minister Bheki Cele said her killer had apparently burnt her body and then buried her in a shallow grave after raping and killing her.
A preliminary investigation revealed that the accused’s criminal record was known to post office officials in 2018 already.
He had a conviction relating to a 1998 carjacking, with an eight-year sentence, of which five years were served and three were suspended.
“These findings were made available to SAPO officials in June 2018, however, the information was not disclosed to the executive and board,” said SAPO board member Charles Nwaila in a statement at the time.
“It is shameful for us that our name – and by extension, the name of our shareholder and that of our government – are associated with such gruesome criminality.”
Nwaila said the preliminary investigation and findings had confirmed the alleged perpetrator’s employment did not follow the routine SAPO recruitment process.
He explained that the accused was among a group of temporary staff who were absorbed into SAPO in 2012.
Mokitimi-Dlamini said that, of 300 flagged employees, the State Security Agency report further identified 174 who had criminal records.
“SAPO is in the process of further investigations to ascertain the appropriate actions to be taken against identified employees. In this respect, the minister urged SAPO to swiftly act on affected employees, especially those in the mail and frontline services.”
Ndabeni-Abrahams also raised her concerns about the 2016 collective agreement which related to, amongst others, the conversion of casual employees.
“To confirm that there are no similar instances, Minister Ndabeni-Abrahams has directed the director-general to ensure that security vetting is instituted in all state-owned entities in the ministry’s portfolio.”
(Compiled by Gopolang Moloko. Additional reporting by News24 Wire.)
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