Minister of Police, General Bheki Cele said the people who gunned down Warrant Officer Roger Mavundla and his family outside their KwaNzimakwe home last Saturday, were there to make sure that no one survived the shooting.
Cele was speaking at the scene of the crime on Tuesday after he and the South African Police Service (SAPS) management led by General Fannie Masemola visited the South Coast after the shooting.
According to police reports, on January 21, the 49-year-old Mavundla, his partner Khanyisile Mthuli (39), children Thando Mavundla (17) and Siyamthanda Mthuli (10) were ambushed and shot at while inside their vehicle, just before they entered their home.
Mavundla’s seven-year-old child, Simthandile Mthuli, is the sole survivor of the incident and is currently in a critical condition in hospital.
Khanyisile Mthuli’s brother, Bongani Mthuli told Fever that he was called at night by neighbours who asked him to rush to KwaNzimakwe.
He added that the incident has devastated the family as they had never heard Khanyisile or Roger complaining about death threats.
“We will miss them, they were a huge help to our family, especially when times were tough. I can’t even begin to imagine what we will tell the surviving child once discharged from hospital,” he said.
During Cele’s visit to the Mavundla and Mthuli families in KwaNzimakwe and KwaNositha, the minister told them although they do not have answers as yet as to who is behind the shooting, they will leave no stone unturned to solve the murders.
“Investigators from the Directorate for Priority Crimes Investigations (DPCI) are following-up on leads with the aim to find and prosecute the perpetrators of this heinous crime. We will come to these families with solid answers,” said Cele.
Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) spokesperson, Richard Mamabolo said there is an urgent need to examine the reasons why the attacks on and killing of police members have continued at such high levels, and to investigate what could be done to protect members of the police service, not only in their work environment, but off-duty and in their homes.
Mamabolo added that he believes members of the police are neglected, saying that members can no longer accept injury or death as merely a consequence or an acceptable risk in the normal execution of their daily work.
Mavundla and his family will be buried at the weekend.
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