One of the suspects wanted for the Mdlalose's tavern mass killing is a leader of a Lesotho group that is said to be linked to Zama-zamas and enjoys the support of the ruling party in the mountain kingdom.
Sarel Lehlanya Sello is part of five wanted suspects who were revealed by the South African Police Service yesterday. The wanted men are believed to be all from Lesotho and they are Sello, Tshepiso Elliot Radebe, Thabang Radikatara, Tshidiso Moleko and Keletso Rabasotho.
The men are believed to have been behind the July mass shooting at the Orlando tavern in Soweto where 16 patrons were randomly shot and killed while seven were injured. The incident sent shock waves in the country.
Sello is a leader of Terene ya Kgosi Mokata, a group that is said to be involved in the illicit gold trading in parts of SA and originates from Lesotho where it is openly being supported by the ruling All Basotho Convention (ABC).
Sowetan understands that ABC will summon Sello and all others into a meeting to further discuss the matter.
Gauteng police yesterday said a warrant of arrest for Sello and four co-accused has been issued and that they need the public's help to get the men behind bars.
“Anyone who has information on the whereabouts of these suspects is requested to contact the police. The only information we can share for now is the names of the suspects. We are not at liberty to discuss the investigation procedures in the media space,” said police spokesperson Dimakatso Sello, who refused to take further questions.
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The announcement by the South African police is a turning point as the government, including Gauteng premier David Makhura and provincial police commissioner Lt-Gen Elias Mawela last week were careful with the information they shared with the media on the case and could only say the suspects had fled into “a neighbouring SADC country” and that a warrant had been issued for them.
SAPS investigators last month went to Lesotho to seek assistance of the authorities in that country to have the suspects handed over at the Maseru border but they came back empty-handed after being snubbed by their counterparts.
ABC leader Nkaku Kabi last month pronounced that his coalition government supports Terene and that his party also dismissed suggestions that Lesotho nationals are involved in increasing violent cases in SA.
“I am holding Lehlanya’s hand because he is a Lesotho national who speaks the same language as us,” Kabi told his followers in Lesotho last month. Kabi had also come to Klerksdorp, North West, to visit Sello and congratulate him for recruiting more than 40,000 members for the ABC in the build-up to the elections in Lesotho.
ABC spokesperson Montoeli Masoetsa said last night: “We have just seen the list making rounds on social media and it has been brought to the attention of the party's national executive committee which has called an urgent meeting tomorrow, where the concerned parties including the suspects will be hauled in to present their side of the story which will inform the way forward.”
Meanwhile, Terene secretary Tshepo Moshoeshoe yesterday told Sowetan their group was aware of the warrant of arrests and they are disappointed that South African police have issued the list without properly consulting with their group.
“We have been in constant communication with the South African police for weeks now. We were told that some of our members are suspected to be involved in that shooting incident and we told the South African police that we are more than willing to assist them with their investigations. It’s unfortunate that the South African police decided to publish the names without hearing our side of the story,” said Moshoeshoe.
“Lesotho is about to go to the national elections and Terene ya Kgosi Mokata has mobilised great support for the ABC. Our political opponents are doing everything they can to destabilise our movement, that is why they have come up with these baseless claims against our members. These are false accusations. The wanted members are in Lesotho. They are prepared to work with the police and the court to clear these lies. Our members were not involved in that gruesome killing in Soweto,” said Moshoeshoe.
He also disputed that his group was linked to Zama-zamas.
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