Former African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) secretary-general Sindiso Magaqa was not poisoned. That’s according to evidence police provided at the Moerane Commission in Durban on Monday.
The police report says Magaqa died from multiple gunshot wounds when he was ambushed in Umzimkhulu last July.
His family had claimed he was poisoned.
The police had faced severe criticism from witnesses about their handling of cases. In their testimony they disputed some evidence in several cases, already heard before the commission.
But they also conceded that they have made no progress in a number of cases, which came under the spotlight at the commission.
The Magaqa family had earlier testified that the Umzimkhulu councillor could have been poisoned in hospital after he survived the shooting. However, police dismissed the claims.
The police confirmed that they killed a suspect in the Magaqa case but have made no further arrests. Meanwhile, they reiterated their denial that the killings at the Glebelands hostel in Durban are politically motivated.
The police are investigating 77 cases of murder at the hostel and have made 14 arrests so far.
Police also decried the fact that witnesses were not keen to enter into the police’s witness protection programme.
The witness who went to his home in the Eastern Cape was later shot dead in Durban before he could testify.
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