R100000 for info on cop killing

Police are offering a reward of up to R100000 for information about the murder of Johannesburg cluster commander Maj-Gen Tirhani Maswanganyi.

"We are working around the clock to make sure this case is solved," Gauteng police commissioner Lieutenant-General Mzwandile Petros said yesterday.

"We are appealing to the public [and] we are giving a reward of up to R100000, depending on the kind of information you give."

Maswanganyi was found dead in a field near Hammanskraal, north of Pretoria, near the R101 road, in the early hours of Tuesday. His hands and feet were tied.

A police patrol found Maswanganyi's abandoned Isuzu bakkie next to the road on Monday evening.

A police uniform and police identification card were in the bakkie, prompting a search.

Petros said a post mortem was being conducted to determine the cause of death.

Though there were no gunshot wounds, there was a wound on Maswanganyi's chest. Police were not sure what caused it.

Maswanganyi's two cellphones were missing.

He said police did not want to speculate on whether Maswanganyi was killed because of his involvement in a murder case.

"He would have been, as a cluster commander, involved in the investigation.

"We don't want to speculate that this officer was killedbecause he was involved in the investigation."

Petros said he was aware that Maswanganyi had been subpoenaed to testify in court because he had been present during the interrogation, but he was not the key witness.

Petros said that Maswanganyi, joined the police in 1982.