Durban - A man has been arrested near Durban for the murder of the sangoma believed to have masterminded rituals performed on Marikana mineworkers, police consultant Makhosini Nkosi said on Thursday.
The Hawks arrested the 28-year-old man from KwaMaphumulo, outside Pietermaritzburg, at KwaMashu Hostel on Tuesday night, he said.
He was linked to the murder of sangoma Alton Zikhuthele Joja, 69, also known as Ndzabe.
He would appear in the Bizana Magistrate's Court on Friday.
“The SA Police Service had wanted (Joja) to testify at the Marikana Commission regarding his alleged role in the rituals that made protesters believe they would be invisible and invincible in the face of gunfire,” said Nkosi.
In March, the Farlam Commission of Inquiry heard that Joja was believed to have sent his sons to perform rituals on protesting Lonmin mineworkers at Marikana.
The commission is investigating the circumstances surrounding the killing of 34 striking mineworkers by the police near Lonmin's platinum mine in Marikana on August 16, and the deaths the previous week of 10 people, including two policemen and two security guards, in strike-related unrest.
On March 24, Joja was at his home in the Ludeke Holt village, in Mbizana, Eastern Cape, when five men armed with pistols and rifles entered his homestead.
They shot him when he approached their car, then fled. The vehicle was later found abandoned and burnt out, with a rifle inside. Joja died on arrival at a local hospital.
Last month, police sent the R5 rifle for ballistics tests to determine whether it had been stolen from one of the two slain policemen. - Sapa