A suspect arrested for the assassination of corruption whistleblower Marumo Eric Phenya is due in court on Tuesday.
Widow Johannah Phenya said the Hawks had advised her of the arrest of Minenhle Sibusiso Mtembu, one of the alleged hitmen in her husband’s murder, by police in northern KwaZulu-Natal last week. He was transported to Gauteng and will appear in the Randburg magistrate’s court.
Welcoming the progress in the investigation, she said via her lawyers: “My husband was assassinated in October 2022. I was afraid that this case would go cold. There is still a lot to be done to hold those who ordered the hit on my husband [accountable]. However, I believe this arrest brings me and my family one step closer to getting justice for Marumo.”
He was shot 10 times after he stopped at an intersection in Hendrik Potgieter Road in Roodepoort shortly after he dropped off their children at school.
Two months before, they had received a chilling phone call warning them a hit had been taken out on them. Though they reported it to the police, he was killed within days of the call.
The couple had spoken out over alleged irregularities involving a multimillion-rand tender from the home affairs department for an IT security system. Johannah Phenya also testified against two home affairs officials in their internal disciplinary hearings.
A BDO’s forensic investigation was launched into the IT contract. A company that came under scrutiny was linked to a family member of a senior government IT official. Under the guise of being female-owned, it landed a 30% slice of the R119m contract to install IT firewall hardware.
The company was registered to a woman who was selling stationary to schoolchildren as an informal trader in Sebokeng. The former domestic worker had no experience in the IT sector. The company was paid R1m before the alarm bells rang and the deal collapsed.
TimesLIVE
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