Justice Minister Ronald Lamola has called on communities to work with the police and the NPA, to ensure that those who killed the daughter of the former EFF Secretary General Godrich Gardee, are arrested and convicted.
Gardee’s daughter, Hillary went missing on Friday last week.
Her body was found in a timber plantation outside Mbombela in Mpumalanga on Tuesday.
Her funeral service will take place on Saturday in Mbombela.
Lamola visited the Gardee family on Thursday and said he was optimistic that those who killed Hillary will be found and prosecuted.
“I don’t think as a nation we should just throw our hands in despair that we are losing the fight against violence. To win the fight is in the hands of all of us as the society, because criminals are born and they live within ourselves. They are known by someone in the community and society. We should work with the police and also the NPA to ensure that the perpetrators of the crime are brought to book.”
EFF leader Julius Malema says the party is working day and night to search for the suspects who killed Hillary. He was speaking to the media after paying his respect to the Gardee family, in Mbombela, Mpumalanga.
Prominent leaders continue to visit the Gardee family with an aim of paying their respect.
Malema, accompanied by his Deputy Floyd Shivambu and the former Chairperson, Dali Mpofu, says says they will not rest until the suspects are found.
“We have committed to the family to find these killers. We have committed to Bheki Cele as well that he must find them before we find them, because if we find them before him, we can’t give a guarantee as to what is going to happen. We have deployed all manner of resources on the ground to look look for this criminal.”
Malema says at this stage they could not say that the motive for the murder was politically motivated.
“There is nothing that suggests there were politics involved. It’s pure criminality and we have not yet established the motive. And the motive can be established once we have found the perpetrator.”
Speaking on behalf of the family, Sinawo Tambo says they have discovered that Hillary was shot in the head.
“As the family, we receive an update that our daughter was shot in the head after the post-mortem, which indicates that she was shot at the back of the head. This is a great concern to us because the bullet wound was not located by the police on the crime scene. They removed the body without creating that possible shooting, whether she was running or standing. We cannot have appreciation now because they have destroyed that crime scene without doing due process.”
Police are investigating a case of murder and no arrest has been made so far.
