Specialised Gauteng detectives have traced the alleged killers of 16 revellers massacred in a Soweto tavern to Lesotho, where they narrowly missed arresting them in a failed clandestine operation at the Maseru border post.
TimesLIVE Investigations can exclusively reveal that after the massacre at Mdlalose’s tavern in July, which saw 23 people shot, the 10 suspects allegedly first hid out in Vereeniging, Gauteng and Klerksdorp, North West before they escaped in smaller groups into Lesotho, where they are hiding.
Two suspects, who were the last of the alleged killers to enter Lesotho, allegedly sneaked across the border on the night of the operation on August 19.
The operation to catch the suspects began on August 18.
It is understood the suspects, who are allegedly linked to a notorious violent illegal mining gang, told detectives through their leaders they will only hand themselves over to SA authorities through the intervention of Lesotho politicians, and only after that country’s elections on October 7.
The message was passed on after the suspects learnt police were looking for them.
The massacre is allegedly linked to a feud between two rival Lesotho gangs, Terene ea Chakela (Chakela’s train) and Terene ea Khosi Mokata (Mokata’s train).
The groups, which splintered from each other, have been locked in a cycle of revenge killings across the gold reef in Gauteng, Free State, and North West for years.
At the centre of the bloody feud are scores of lucrative operational, mothballed, abandoned and closed mine shafts which yield the gangs illegally mining them millions worth of gold every month.
TimesLIVE Investigations has established that one of the 16 Mdlalose tavern victims is Lesotho national and Chakela member Thabo Kwepe, who was allegedly the intended target of the shooting, which was allegedly carried out by Mokata members.
Through sources in the Lesotho security services and SA police and among illegal miners, it has been established that the operation, sanctioned by senior Gauteng police officers, was carried out without the knowledge of Lesotho security forces.
It is understood Lesotho authorities have apparently been hunting the same suspects for serious and violent crimes in that country, including murder.
Lesotho’s security services were apparently only alerted a day after the failed operation.
TimesLIVE Investigations learnt the operation would have seen the suspects lured from their homes to the Maseru border, where they would have been snatched by police with the help of Mokata leaders.
On August 15, four days before the operation, police minister Bheki Cele met Mokata’s SA leaders to discuss claims the organisation’s members were responsible for the massacre.
After the meeting, Cele ordered Gauteng provincial police commissioner Lt-Gen Elias Mawela and his managers to meet with the group.
The meeting is, however, understood to have turned hostile, with detectives from the Gauteng Serious and Organised Crime Unit, Provincial Investigative Unit and a task team investigating illegal mining in the province allegedly accusing the leaders of helping the suspects to escape.
The operation began the day the group’s leaders met Gauteng police, who allegedly forced them to call the suspects to establish their whereabouts, before driving them to their hideouts in Vereeniging and Klerksdorp.
The two are thought to have fled shortly before police arrived after their accomplices notified them they were being sought.
Police then drove the group’s leaders to the Maseru border post, where they were forced to try lure the suspects.
Cele’s spokesperson Lirandzu Themba, who declined to respond to detailed questions, confirmed a meeting took place.
“It was initiated by the grouping. It was short and concluded that operational people of the police follow up urgently on the matters raised. Questions should be referred to the police and whoever else was in the follow up meetings.”
Gauteng police spokesperson Brig Brenda Muridili declined to comment on questions around the meeting and operation.
“We are not at liberty to discuss information that forms part of an ongoing investigation for fear of jeopardising the investigation”.
Asked about the police operation to track down the 10 Sowetan tavern suspects, and speaking exclusively to TimesLIVE, Lesotho Mounted Police (LMP) commissioner Holomo Molibeli said they were in the dark about what had happened.
“The LMP definitely did not receive official requests for assistance in tracking the suspects. We were unaware the police were here for them. If we were made aware we could have helped.”
He said co-operation with the SA police had increased recently with the launch of Operation Gijima, which was used to track down suspects wanted in SA.
“We get requests for assistance. These are made through Sadc protocols and joint memorandums of understanding between SA and Lesotho. If we had to go through Interpol it would take a lot of time.”
Tshepo Moshoeshoe, Mokata’s secretary-general in SA, said after allegations of their members' involvement in the Soweto shooting, they decided to approach the authorities.
“We decided to meet the minister to see whether there was a way we could assist the police. Our main purpose was to say, ‘Minister we are at your service. We will assist so the suspects are apprehended’.”
He claimed while Cele had instructed they meet Mawela, they met his deputy and other senior officers, including organised crime detectives and members of an illegal mining task team at the Gauteng police headquarters in Johannesburg, Parktown.
“To our surprise, it was not the way we expected. When we got there, the hospitality was hostile. Instead of sitting down and finding ways to solve the problem, we were treated like we were the suspects. They basically said ‘there is no meeting. We are basically going to tell you what we want you to do’. We were ambushed.”
He said police told them the massacre was because of the elimination of Chakela members, “but we do not know anything about that”.
“As a society, we do not believe in revenge killings and assassinations. We are law-abiding officers.”
Moshoeshoe said during the meeting they were given a list of the names of the alleged Soweto tavern killers and made to go through their membership database to verify identities and track addresses and contact numbers for the suspects.
He said the list did not have proper names on them.
“Some were just nicknames. We eventually established 10 of our members were on the list. We were trying to help them find out who these people were and whether they were in SA or Lesotho.
“We established some had gone to Lesotho. We told them we can help in getting the suspects to hand over themselves, but they just bullied us. They kept accusing us of being criminals and harbouring criminals, but we said we had many members and could not know how, if any, were criminals.”
He said they were instructed to call the 10 suspect before they were driven first to Vereeniging and then Klerksdorp, but by the time they arrived the men were no longer there.
Moshoeshoe said they then drove to the border.
“When we got there they gave us our phones to speak to eight of the people. The two we could not find were in Lesotho. I would say the two were buying time to say they were in Vereeniging and Klerksdorp when they were moving to Lesotho. It is difficult to determine when they crossed the border to Lesotho.
“We called them and told them we were looking for them. They told us to wait. They then told us that they understood we were with the police.”
He said their members said they knew they were on a wanted list, and while they wanted to co-operate and hand themselves over, “it is very risky to do that”.
“They were worried they were being led into a trap and that we were kidnapped by the others [Chakela] and they would be killed. They said they would find other means to hand themselves over.
”They wanted proper procedures to be followed and said the police must come to Lesotho and do the proper thing [be arrested by Lesotho police and extradited] and follow formal processes with lawyers. They did not cross over and are in Lesotho.”
Moshoeshoe said they entered Lesotho and met the suspects and apologised for deceiving them.
“They said they were prepared to hand themselves over but insisted they were not involved and had proof they were not in the area.
“They said they believed the handover could only be done by politicians and only after the elections and through a bilateral agreement between SA and Lesotho authorities.”
He said police officers were furious with them when the suspects refused to hand themselves over.
“They wanted to arrest us because we could not get the people on the list. They were angry, but if they did things the right way and followed procedure, we could have assisted them and got those guys. They should not blame us.
“They then said we had until August 25 to hand over those guys. Who would want to co-operate with them (the police) after the ambush and the risky situation we found ourselves in?
“The police said they wanted to meet with us again to see what we can do to get those people to SA, but we will only talk telephonically. They pleaded to meet, but we are not safe. They should be relieved they know who these people are and where they are.”
Sowetan reported on Friday that Mawela said warrant of arrests had been obtained and that two of the suspects worked for the Lesotho defence force and the Lesotho Mounted Police.
“My detectives have identified those who allegedly killed people at Mdlalose’s tavern. Police approached the court and got a warrant of arrest for the individuals.
“Five suspects have fled to one of the neighbouring countries. An SA police delegation went to that country to discuss the case with their counterparts.
“We don’t want to reveal the name of the involved country. Once police that side have done their part the suspects will be brought back to SA to stand trial.”
TimesLIVE
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