A KwaZulu-Natal taxi boss alleged to be the triggerman in the murder of North West businessman Wandile Bozwana taunted police officers by calling them and telling them they would not catch him over the past six years.
An officer, who asked not be named because he is not permitted to speak to the media, said Senzo Mncube taunted them whenever an operation to arrest him was in motion.
He said Mncube, 40, led them on a wild-goose chase that saw them criss-crossing the length and breadth of KZN since Bozwana's murder in October 2015.
“We have been looking for him for years. This man would somehow know when we were on the cusp of arresting him. He sometimes called the investigating team and told them that he heard they were looking for him. He would tell them that they would not catch him,” said the officer.
“We would get information that he is in Durban and then we would drive down to KZN and he’d slip through our fingers by a mere hour or two,” said the officer.
The officer said Mncube constantly moved between locations and spent little time in one place.
“We know he was being hidden. He was kept safe by his networks, which always ensured that we were one step behind him. At one point, we received information about his whereabouts but he evaded us — we missed him by 30 minutes and he called us to tell us to work harder,” said the officer.
The officer said they received a tip-off from an informer who gave them Mncube's location recently.
Mncube was finally arrested in Ulundi, KwaZulu-Natal, on May 23 after he had been on the run for nearly six years, with police officers launching multiple manhunts for him between Gauteng and KZN.
“We were lucky but always prepared. We scouted the area and managed to identify him, then we surprised him at night and arrested him. We acted swiftly and that is why we were able to catch him,” said the officer.
He appeared in the Pretoria magistrate’s court on Monday where he was charged with the murder of Bozwana and attempted murder of his business partner, Mpho Baloyi.
His matter was postponed to June 7 for possible bail application.
The court heard that investigations into the matter were concluded and that Mncube’s legal representation was awaiting a copy of the docket.
National police spokesperson Brig Vish Naidoo said Mncube was arrested during an intelligence-driven operation.
The officer said Mncube was the missing piece of the puzzle in Bozwana’s murder and that his arrest would tighten their case against Mncube’s four co-accused — Sipho Patrick Hudla, Matamela Robert Mutapa, Vusi Reginald “Khekhe” Mathibela and Bonginkosi Paul Khumalo — who are now on trial.
Hudla, Mutapa, and Khumalo implicated Mncube in confession statements they made to police after their arrests.
In his confession, which was read out in the North Gauteng High Court by the SAPS officer who took it down, Hudla said he was at a taxi rank that day with his friends, when one of them said “Vusi” phoned and wanted to meet them.
He said the rifle was handed to him and they proceeded to follow Bozwana on the N1, towards Pretoria.
At the Garsfontein off-ramp he and one Mncube got out of the car when it stopped at the traffic light.
“I went to the Left-hand side of the car and Mncube went to the Right side. I fired five shots at the man and he [the taxi boss] fired through the driver’s side,” the statement read.
Mncube will join his four co-accused in court on October 23 when the Bozwana murder trial is expected to resume.
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