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THULANI’S DEATH: COPS REVEAL SEQUENCE OF EVENTS

04/02/2023 07:45:00 Mhlonishwa Motsa

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MBABANE – The Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) have come out to clarify the sequence of events that happened immediately after Human Rights Lawyer Thulani Maseko was assassinated.

Maseko was murdered in a coldblooded assassination in front of his wife and two sons, at his parental home, KaLuhleko at Bhunya on Saturday January 21, 2023. He was shot two times in the head and once across the chest, with all three bullets piercing through his left side and landing next to the television set he was watching with his family, in the lounge. The REPS quashed the theory attributing Maseko’s assassination to State security agents. They further explained the reason behind their early arrival to the scene and unpacked how they handled the scene of crime.

Maseko’s murder attracted international upheaval and different theories were presented by social media commentators and members of the mass democratic movement in the country. The police have not yet apprehended anyone for the gruesome murder and the international community has called for independent investigations.

Narrated

REPS’s Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati narrated the chronology order of events and said the police arrived within a 30-minute bracket after receiving the information. Vilakati was speaking during a live transmission of People and Places, a programme hosted by television presenter Qhawe Mamba on Yemaswati Channel, on Thursday evening. She said they received a call from the late Maseko’s wife, Tanele, from a cell-phone of one of the officers at Bhunya Police Station.

The officer is attached under the Crime Investigation’s Department (CID) and Vilakati stated that Tanele took the number of the police officer during a previous investigation of a break-in, by thugs in one of Maseko’s shops in the area. She said since the officer was on duty during the day, he was able to relay the message to his superiors and the station commander immediately assigned two cars to the scene. One of the cars was under the CID department, while the other was under the general response.

Swiftly

“We were fortunate that the cars had not gone out for other assignments and this was one of the reasons we were able to respond swiftly to the scene of crime. The fact that the call went straight to someone at Bhunya Police Station made it easy for us to respond to it at a reasonable time. It would have probably taken longer if we received the call through the hotline because they would then have to first check with the nearest police station,” she stated.

Vilakati was responding to a direct question on why were police officers were quick to respond as if they were there the whole time. She said it was unfortunate that some people seemed to opine that the officers that responded to the scene of crime were actually a part of the crime. She said police officers were servants of the people and they were aware that they should not harm anyone.

Apprehend

She added that in a case where the officers were on duty trying to apprehend a person and that person dies, they take accountability for that. She emphasised that there was no attempt to arrest Maseko or any presence of the police prior to his killing on the day. Vilakati added that the police officers arrived early at the scene because they knew where Maseko’s home was located from prior engagements with the family.

“According to us, we arrived at a reasonable time and you can note that we already knew where the homestead is located and it is not very far from the police station. Actually the distance is about five kilometres and you can make your own calculation that it would probably take a short amount of time to get there. However, since we had to take our working tools and change even our clothing since the brief said there was a shooting, we took less than 30 minutes to get there after receiving the call,” she added.

Vilakati further dispelled the connotation that a man in a bike gave an eyewitness account that the police were a part of the assassination plan since they were at the vicinity of the homestead when the murder happened. She said the man in a bike met the police officers along the way and he asked the second car which was driven by the CID officer whether they were going to Maseko’s home.

Confirmed

Vilakati said the officers confirmed and told the man that Maseko’s wife called them and he followed them back home. She challenged anyone who claimed to have evidence of an eyewitness account to report it. She indicated that they were not aware of anyone who was an eyewitness to the case and according to the police; the man in bike gave them an account of what he saw.

“Upon arrival at the homestead, the police officers went on and secured the scene of crime before making calls to the Manzini Police Headquarters for an expert to do forensic search. We then waited for some hours and it was during this period that the man in bike told us of a suspicious black car that was seen around the area minutes before the gunshots. Some police officers took the two cars and tried to search for the car. One went to the Bhunya route while the other searched towards the Manzini route and no car was seen,” she said.

Revealed

Vilakati revealed that the man in a bike told them that the registration number of the black BMW began with NSD and he could not see the rest of the numbers since it was dark. Police from the Scenes of Crime and Serious Crime Units arrived and took over from the Bhunya Police Station officers after an hour. The two units are usually called in serious and bigger investigation and according to Vilakati they arrived and gathered all the evidence they could get from the scene and will present it when the time permits.

Vilakati appealed to people with information leading to the arrest of the suspect to relay such crucial leads to Manzini Regional Crime Branch Officer (RCBO) Thabo Hlophe at 7606 8572. Maseko was buried on Sunday January 29, 2023 at KaLuhleko and our sister publication, The Times SUNDAY established in their investigation done at the scene, that Maseko was most likely murder by a trained assassin. Possible features of the murderer were outlined that he needed to have height and a bigger body to execute the assassination at the point where he was standing behind Maseko and his family. It was also revealed that he needed a special skill in accuracy and precision.

While the mass democratic movement in the country has been calling for speedy investigations into the murder of the globally renowned lawyer, international organisations such as the United Nations (UN) amplified the plea.The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has also called for the immediate hosting of the national dialogue to quench the rising political agitation which has been blamed as the motive behind Maseko’s murder.