One of the five men arrested for the Mdlalose tavern shooting is affiliated to the Terene Ya Khosi Mokata gang and allegedly gave police misleading information about the murder case in order to thwart the investigation.
The man was also present at a meeting that the Terene leadership held with police minister Bheki Cele on August 8 to discuss crimes believed to have been committed by Lesotho nationals in SA. After that meeting, the suspect also drove to the Maseru border with police in a bid to secure the arrest of suspects who were said to be in Lesotho at the time.
According to sources close to the Mdlalose tavern shooting case, three of the arrested suspects are Lesotho nationals and two are South Africans. Among the arrested South Africans is a budding musician.
It has also emerged that a high-ranking member of Terene is among suspects in the Soweto tavern mass murder case. He appeared in the Orlando magistrate’s court in Soweto yesterday with four other members of Terene on numerous charges that include murder, attempted murder and defeating the ends of justice.
The group was arrested last week in different parts of the North West and the Northern Cape.
“The [man] has been in constant communication with South African police. He approached the police saying he had information related to the Mdlalose tavern murder case. But upon investigation, police realised that he was feeding them misleading information,” said a source.
Before his arrest, the man gave police the names, home addresses and cellphone numbers of 11 individuals he claimed were involved in the Mdlalose shooting, but it turned out that all were the names and details of members of Terene who had died before the shooting incident.
Also, the home addresses he provided don’t exist and the cellphone numbers don’t go through.
The man then requested to meet with the police last Thursday, saying he wanted to hand in a man who wanted to confess to killing 16 people at Mdlalose tavern in July.
But when quizzed by the police, the man was also implicated in several cases.
Police arrested five suspects last week and have obtained two confessions from them.
The arrested man was part of the Terene delegation that briefly met with Cele at OR Tambo International Airport a few weeks after the mass shooting.
Jean-Pierrie Venter, the lawyer for the man, said his client has been cooperating with the police for some time.
According to Venter, his client had got involved with the tavern shooting case because he is the secretary of a faction of Terene.
According to Venter, his client then started making calls to suspects in Lesotho to convince them to come to SA and even went to the border with the police minister to meet some of them.
“They even went to the border but when they got there, the guys from the other side changed their minds thinking that it was some kind of a trap from the other faction,” Venter said.
“He was never on the list. He was never a suspect.
“Suddenly, on Friday I get a call that he was arrested for this matter. Initially, he told me that he was arrested for obstructing justice and this morning we find out he has been arrested for the murders as well.”
He said his client had handed over two people who are believed to have confessed that they were part of the shooting but was arrested when he handed them over. Venter could not confirm if the two people were among the five who appeared in court yesterday.
After the appearance of the five in court, NPA spokesperson Phindi Mjonondwane said police were still looking for suspects outside the country.
“The process of extraditing the outstanding suspects has already begun. The investigating officers are working with an advocate at the office of the director of public prosecutions in the Gauteng local division.”
Speaking on the sidelines of the men's dialogue on gender-based violence in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, on Monday, police minister Bheki Cele said progress is being made in getting the remaining suspects in Lesotho back in SA.
“We are expecting more people [to be arrested]. We know that some have crossed the border to Lesotho. We are talking to people responsible there to bring them here. These that we have found we got through intelligence driven operation.
It is one thing that has been giving us sleepless nights,” Cele said.
nzimandeb@sowetan.co.za,
dlaminip@sowetan.co.za
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