Meyiwa case going well

The pieces of the puzzle that is the Senzo Meyiwa murder are falling into place "nicely".

A confident head of detectives, Lieutenant-General Vinesh Moonoo, told a media briefing yesterday that "the investigation into this crime, which appears to be a robbery gone horribly wrong, is sensitive".

The police have arrested Zenokuhle Mbatha, whom they believe is the dreadlocked attacker depicted in the identikit pictures released last week.

Moonoo said he would not be jeopardising the investigation by commenting on Mbatha's alleged role in the attack, but it is suspected that he may have been the shooter.

Mbatha fits the description of the man who demanded cellphones, carried a pistol and was aggressive when he and one or two others stormed into the East Rand home of the grandmother of singer Kelly Khumalo, Meyiwa's lover. Mbatha appeared in the Boksburg Magistrate's Court on Friday . He is being kept at a safehouse until his court appearance on Tuesday next week because of fears for his safety . But he has not been asked to plead.

Mbatha's arrest follows the release of 13 people taken in for questioning around the country days after the killing.

Moonoo said the 13 had been released "after it was established that they could not be linked to the incident".

"If we had not questioned these people and did not follow up on information, we would have been committing an injustice. We are following up on a number of leads to get the case ready for trial."

Moonoo said the police were putting the pieces of the puzzle together "and it is coming into place nicely".

Asked if Mbatha, whose family maintains his innocence, had been assisting the police, Moonoo said that he had not been "directly" co-operating.

"But we are confident that he was involved ... that there are two suspects."

He said the cellphone taken in the attack, and the SMSes sent from it to several of Khumalo's friends, were now part of the investigation.

"Investigators are following up on information on the cellphone. Our technology-support unit is assisting in that part of the investigation and is obtaining data from the network service provider to check on the authenticity of the so-called SMSs."