Police need to use specialised investigations and improve their intelligence to crack cases of murder committed by hitmen, which are becoming common in the country.
This is the view of Gareth Newham, head of justice and violence prevention at the Institute for Security Studies, after the country was shocked by another brazen assassination of a government official this week.
Newham said people use hitmen because police are unable to solve such cases.
“It is almost a guarantee that someone will get away with murder. If you arrange for someone to be killed, and you do it in such a way that it cannot be linked back to you, in other words pay somebody to pay someone else and that person gives false information to the hitman.
“Even if police catch the hitman and they [the hitman] give details to the police about the person who paid them, those details are not correct. Police are unable to identify that person, so the murder cannot be traced back to you. These kinds of assassinations take place because they lower the risk of being caught and criminally prosecuted,” said Newham.
On Monday, Rand Water chief shared services officer Teboho Joala was killed, together with one of his bodyguards, during a back-to-school event organised by the entity at Zakariyya Park, south of Johannesburg.
The police could increase their capability, especially in crime intelligence and specialised investigative capacity, because people don’t go around killing each other for no reason.
— Gareth Newham, head of justice and violence prevention at the Institute for Security Studies
Joala and his protector died after a group of men entered a hall where he was handing out school uniforms and shoes to 1,670 pupils and opened fire.
The brazen attack happened in front of pupils. The shooting left three people wounded, including ANC councillor and Johannesburg chief whip Sithembiso Zungu.
Newham said police need to up their game to end these gruesome murders.
“The police could increase their capability, especially in crime intelligence and specialised investigative capacity, because people don’t go around killing each other for no reason.
“The person who wants somebody dead has some contact with the person they want to kill. Either the person that is being killed owes them money or is a threat to them and they need to eliminate them. There is always a direct relationship between the person who orchestrates these murders and the victims,” Newham said.
Vusi Gumbi, spokesperson for Johannesburg council speaker Margaret Arnolds, said Zungu is recovering in hospital.
“The councillor is alive, stable and receiving medical attention,” Gumbi said.
On February 10 last year, Kiernan Forbes — known as AKA — and his friend Tebello Motsoane were shot and killed outside a restaurant in Durban, in full view of the public. The murders were captured on CCTV camera.
In August last year, six men who were accused of killing Gauteng health official Babita Deokaran were sentenced to a combined 95 years’ imprisonment.
Deokaran was shot on August 23 2021. Deokaran, 53, had just returned from dropping her child off at school, when she was gunned down. She was still in her car outside when she was shot. She was rushed to hospital where she succumbed to her wounds.
Phakamani Vincent Hadebe, Mhlangano Phinda Ndlovu, Sanele Mbhele, Siphakanyiswa Dladla, Zitha Radebe and Siphiwe Thabane Mazibuko pleaded guilty to the crime, but the person behind the assassination is still at large.
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