Lobby group, AfriForum, alleges that the murder of former Bafana Bafana and Orlando Pirates captain, Senzo Meyiwa, was an assassination and not a robbery gone wrong.
The revelation follows the announcement of the arrest of five suspects linked to the murder. Meyiwa was shot dead in Vosloorus in Ekurhuleni at the home of his girlfriend, Kelly Khumalo, in 2014.
AfriForum’s head of Private Prosecutions Unit, advocate Gerrie Nel and Meyiwa’s brother, Sisfiso Meyiwa, spoke to the media in Pretoria on Monday.
Lobby group, AfriForum made the revelations just hours after Police Minister Bheki Cele and the National Police Commissioner General Khehla Sithole announced a breakthrough in the protracted murder case.
Nel says although they are happy with the arrests, they are disappointed that the police did not inform the nation of the notion Meyiwa’s killing was a hit and that an alleged mastermind is still free.
“But the one aspect that the police were silent on earlier this morning is ‘was it a robbery? What was it?’ We’ve been briefed that this was not a robbery that went wrong. This was not a robbery that went wrong. This was an assassination. So, the one aspect here we are disappointed it hasn’t happened yet is to address the mastermind because if there’s a hit there’s a mastermind.”
Meyiwa’s brother Sifiso Meyiwa who was still shocked by the revelations made to him by AfriForum minutes before the briefing, says despite the alleged mastermind still roaming the streets, he remains hopeful that he’ll be arrested soon.
The Meyiwas approached AfriForum for assistance in the matter after the case seemed to hit a dead end with the police.
“I have to clear my mind, but I’d like to thank SAPS and AfriForum on behalf of the family with the progress of the case. Although we are grateful of the arrests made, we remain anxious that the mastermind was not arrested. In view of the established cooperation between the legal team from AfriForum and SAPS, we remain hopeful that more arrests will follow.”
Nel says they will not rest until justice is served:
“We’re fairly serious about the endeavors to make sure that the mastermind is addressed. That’ll be going forward but I have to say and I have to qualify myself every time because it is in the interest of the Meyiwa family, they also have their views, aspects that we should look at and we will. We will look at all the aspects and share with our clients what we have.”
Both the police minister and the national commissioner would not be drawn on whether Meyiwa’s death was a hit or a robbery during a media briefing. The five suspects are expected to appear in the Boksburg Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday morning.
