AfriForum say that they have critical evidence in the case regarding the assassination of uMngeni Democratic Alliance (DA) councilor Nhlalayenza Ndlovu but police do not want to engage with them.
AfriForum’s private prosecution unit claims that it has secured potentially critical evidence that could resolve the investigation into the politically motivated killing of Ndlovu.
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Ndlovu, chief whip of the uMngeni Local Municipality, was gunned down in front of his wife and children in December last year.
He was shot more than ten times.
The DA’s independent task team appointed the private prosecution unit as its operational partner in January to lead the investigation into Ndlovu’s murder.
According to AfriForum’s Barry Bateman, head of the South African Police Service’s (SAPS) crime intelligence Major General Dumisani Khumalo, has shut down all communication with the private prosecution unit despite his eagerness to assist the police.
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Bateman said AfriForum’s unit, led by advocate Gerrie Nel and a team of specialized investigators, have conducted extensive consultations since January and followed up on numerous promising leads in the uMngeni area.
At a meeting with Khumalo on March 13, Nel and his team expressed their willingness to work with the police.
“Regrettably, Khumalo has since terminated all communication with the unit and refuses to update Ndlovu’s widow and family on the investigation’s progress, despite the police’s obligation to do so,” he said.
Following that meeting he sent a letter to Khumalo expressing his dissatisfaction.
“Your seeming unwillingness to foster a relationship of co-operation to solve this callous assassination is disappointing.
“Despite our indication that we may be able to assist in the investigation because we have access to information from persons who distrust the police themselves, you have shown no interest.
“It became clear that you have no intention to deviate from the chosen ‘investigation plan’. The meeting fostered the inference that the SAPS are more concerned with controlling investigations and a narrative than solving this particular murder,” said Nel.
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A month later, SAPS made a public appeal for the tracing of Zwelithini Buthelezi, an induna in the Mpophomeni area, in connection with a murder and attempted murder in the town of Impendle in KwaZulu-Natal.
According to Bateman this appeal came after Buthelezi failed to appear in the Howick Magistrate’s Court.
Buthelezi faces charges of theft of transformers owned by the uMngeni Municipality.
What the appeal does not reveal, however, is that Buthelezi had indeed been arrested by the SAPS weeks earlier, but that the state had not opposed his release on bail.
Bateman said if Khumalo had agreed to co-operate with the private prosecution unit, Buthelezi would have faced meaningful scrutiny on charges related to Ndlovu’s murder.
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“This suggests that the SAPS either withheld their intelligence from the prosecution or, despite our clients being informed that the theft case was used to target Buthelezi, were no closer to solving any crime and the team only grasped at straws,” said Nel.
Both the National Prosecuting Authority and the SAPS were contacted for comment; However, no comments were provided by the time of publication.
