POLICE want the killers who on Monday evening gunned down Inkosi Linda Sonny Mathonsi (57) to ‘say sorry’ before they appear before a magistrate for the murder.
The call was made by Hawks boss Berning Ntlezema when he visited the family home in Sundumbili on Wednesday morning.
Mathonsi and his daughter (24) were on their way home when unknown gunmen pulled up next to them in an unidentified vehicle before opening fire.
He was hit in the neck and head while the daughter, who tried to flee, sustained a single gunshot wound to her arm.
Ntlezema and other top brass met with the family and also inspected the scene of the shooting, two kilometres away.
‘These killers must come forward. We don’t want to waste energy looking for them,’ he told journalists.
The Hawks have taken over the investigation after a docket of murder and attempted murder was opened at Sundumbili police station.
He confirmed an extensive manhunt was underway and that the family would be protected by SAPS until the investigation’s conclusion.
Outrage
MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs in KZN, Nomusa Dube-Ncube, on Monday night expressed her ‘outrage and shock’ at the killing.
‘This heinous crime cannot go unpunished. We urge the police to leave no stone unturned in the hunt for his murderers,’ Dube-Ncube said.
‘As the province of KwaZulu-Natal, we have worked tirelessly over the years to rid our province of the past image as a backward area ravaged by violence and killings. The killing of Inkosi and other public representatives recently is casting a shadow over the journey to peace we have travelled as the province,’ she said, referring to the murder of Councillor Ace Houston in Harding last week.
‘We must not allow criminal elements to take us back. We are appealing to anyone with information to come forward so that the doers of this dastardly deed can be brought to justice,’ she concluded.
The Inkatha Freedom Party’s national chairman Blessed Gwala also expressed shock at the news.
‘We are deeply shocked and devastated by this brutal act that leaves us lost for words,’ Gwala said in a statement on Monday.
‘Among Amakhosi, he was highly respected and was ever willing to assist and give advice in solving community issues,’ he said.
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