Senzo Meyiwa's dad slams cops as murder probe stalls

21 June 2015 - 02:04 By BONGANI MTHETHWA and Khanyi Ndabeni

It has been almost nine months since South Africa woke up to the horrific news that beloved Bafana Bafana captain Senzo Meyiwa had been murdered. Since then, lives have been left hanging - a wrongful arrest has destroyed one young man's job prospects - and Meyiwa's father, Sam, is still waiting for answers.This week, an angry and hurt Meyiwa expressed frustration at the stalled investigation into the killing on October 26 last year.story_article_left1For Meyiwa, much of the blame for the lack of results rests with the police who, he says, have continually tried to reassure him that they are doing their best.But so far they appear to have achieved nothing except the botched arrest of Zamokuhle Mbatha, who lives in Vosloorus on Gauteng's East Rand - near the family home of Senzo's lover, Kelly Khumalo, where the killing took place.Mbatha, who said this week that he was suing the police for R10-million for wrongful arrest, believes his arrest is responsible for his inability to find a job.He said the stigma of the accusation against him was impossible to shake off."Most of these people are strangers, but feel I owe them an explanation. How do you explain something that you don't know?"Mbatha said he kept a low profile now, often spending his days locked in his one-room shack three blocks from the Khumalo house.Meyiwa, sitting in his home in Umlazi, KwaZulu-Natal, said he wanted to hear what the people who were in the house with his son at the time of the killing had to say for themselves.They include Khumalo, her mother, her sister, Zandi, Zandi's boyfriend, Longwe Twala, and two friends, Mthokozisi Twala and Tumelo Madlala."The place where Senzo was killed is known," he said."I wish to ask [national police commissioner General Riah] Phiyega what's going on, because the people who were there know the truth. I wish Phiyega could put pressure on the investigators to pull up their socks."Why are the people who pointed fingers at Mbatha not arrested, because they lied in order to shift the focus of the investigation away from what really happened?"full_story_image_hright1Meyiwa believes Phiyega's predecessor, the axed Bheki Cele, would have found his son's killer or killers by now."If Bheki Cele was here, the suspects would have been arrested a long time ago. The investigation needs Phiyega's intervention now. It's almost a year. I can't handle it any more," Meyiwa said."It would be better if I knew someone has been arrested. I won't keep quiet until I know the truth about who killed my son. Even Senzo himself won't rest until his killers have been put behind bars."Meyiwa said detectives had visited him two weeks ago and told him that a suspect arrested for an unrelated crime might provide clues to his son's death.The officers told him they were still piecing together information to see if the suspect was linked to the murder."Someone has been arrested, but not in relation to Senzo's murder," he said."The police said they are still doing a DNA test to check whether he is linked to his murder."Asked for comment on this aspect of the case this week, Phiyega said: "I can't speak off the cuff about such things because it would be dangerous."Phiyega, who was attending a Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union event in Durban, referred queries to her spokesman, Lieutenant-General Solomon Makgale.Meyiwa said the family still kept in touch with Senzo's widow, Mandisa Mkhize, who lives in Johannesburg.sub_head_start We're doing our best - police sub_head_endPolice spokesman Lieutenant-General Solomon Makgale denied that the hunt for Senzo Meyiwa's killers had reached a dead end."This is not the case at all," he said in a statement, adding that the investigation was not a straightforward one."Some investigations are not simple ... they take twists and turns which will require the police to follow meticulously. This is one such investigation."He said a high-level team was dealing with the matter and seven investigators, led by a captain, were working on it full time.story_article_right2Makgale said statements had been taken from 86 people."Some of the individuals had to be reinterviewed several times as new information came to light. The people who were in the house at the time of the incident are co-operating fully with the investigation."We are also following up on leads provided by other witnesses who were outside the house at the time of the incident."Makgale said that apart from its work in Gauteng, the team had visited Limpopo, Western Cape, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal as part of efforts to follow up nearly 100 leads received through Crime Stop, police stations and government and soccer officials."Information peddlers are also very active, spreading cooked-up stories about who killed Senzo," he said."One of the leads brought us into contact with a fraudster, Serame George Shabalala. He allegedly phoned Kelly Khumalo's friends, saying Kelly had been arrested. He claimed to be the police officer who had arrested her and wanted bail money of R3000."He was arrested and found in possession of lots of bank cards, credit cards, cellphones, SIM cards and laptops."Makgale said an unknown person had phoned a police station in Umlazi, " claiming someone wanted to hire him to kill Senzo's father"."A case of intimidation has been opened," he said.mthethwab@sundaytimes.co.za..

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