There are many questions unanswered after an alleged attempted hit on North West businessman Brown Mogotsi.
According to police spokesperson Brig Athlenda Mathe, the investigating team said 11 rounds were fired at Mogotsi’s vehicle in Vosloorus on Monday night.
“Looking at the car, we do not see any blood or anything that suggests Mr Mogotsi was wounded,” Mathe said.
She said police officers who attended the crime scene confirmed Mogotsi was not injured.
Mathe said Mogotsi told officers at the crime scene a white bakkie had been following him. He said he was traumatised and promised to report the case to the Vosloorus police station the next day.
Mathe said the acting station commander had attempted to contact Mogotsi on Tuesday to find out whether he would make his way to the police station, but Mogotsi’s phone was not answered.
She said on Tuesday morning police were waiting for him to present himself to take his statement.
Mogotsi had not reported to the police station by 5pm on Tuesday.
Efforts by the Sunday Times to call his number yielded no response as the phone appeared to be switched off. There was also no response to a text message sent to his number seeking comment.
Police said a case of attempted murder was under investigation. However, they indicated if their investigations revealed the shooting was staged, a case of defeating the ends of justice would be opened.
“If we are mobilising police resources to attend to a crime scene, that is diversion of resources. We could have used the resources for a case that needed them.”
“If we do find out it was staged, and we have not yet made that determination, we would have to add a charge of defeating the ends of justice. We are hoping it was not staged and this was genuine and there was an attempt on his life,” Mathe said.
The Sunday Times’s sister publication, Sowetan, reported on Tuesday that an eyewitness account cast doubt there was an assassination attempt on Mogotsi.
An eyewitness told the publication a man who was driving the vehicle that was supposedly shot at, who is believed to be Mogotsi, got out with a gun and started firing shots.
Mogotsi is a politically connected businessman and one of the main figures in the Madlanga commission of inquiry into criminality, political interference and corruption in the criminal justice system.
The witness, who said she was traumatised, said the incident happened shortly before 9pm on Monday.
“I was at home with my partner when a red car drove past at high speed and suddenly came to a halt. The occupant appeared to be talking on the phone.
“He parked his car in a deserted space next to houses facing the N3 highway. He alighted from the car with a gun and started shooting. My partner and I ran in different directions to seek refuge. I left my shoes behind. I was scared.”
Minutes later, other Vosloorus residents went to the scene and found Mogotsi’s car with shattered windows on the driver and passenger sides.
He was not at the scene, and there is suspicion he allegedly left the scene in another vehicle.
The car’s lights were on, but the engine was switched off. The key was in the ignition.
While residents were gathered there, a VW Golf arrived and stopped behind the red car. Mogotsi alighted from the Golf.
One resident told Sowetan: “Mogotsi said he was headed to Victoria Hotel and had been followed from Spruitview BP garage by unknown men driving a white bakkie.
“When we asked if we could call the police or an ambulance, he declined.”
Another resident said Mogotsi told them he was coming from Spruitview and going to Dawn Park in Boksburg.
Community members said there is no private security where the incident took place, but they have organised patrollers who arrived after the shooting.
A resident said police responded to the incident about 90 minutes later.
Madlanga commission spokesperson Jeremy Michaels said they recently communicated with Mogotsi and his legal team regarding his safety and there was a possibility he could be offered witness protection.
Mogotsi is among the witnesses who are due to testify at the commission.
Last month, police raided Mogotsi’s business premises in Mahikeng, North West, in what they said was part of an ongoing investigation. Mogotsi was not at the premises at the time and had said he would present himself at the nearest police station. According to Mathe, he has not done that, and the police are waiting for him.
Mogotsi said at the time he feared for his life.
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