Durban - At the time of his death on Monday, Sam Meyiwa - the father of slain footballer Senzo Meyiwa whose murder nearly five years ago still remains unsolved - had seen the backs of three police commissioners and two police ministers who had each promised that his son's killers would be brought to book.
Senzo, who rose to national fame first as a goalkeeper for Orlando Pirates and would go on to represent the national team, Bafana Bafana, was killed during an apparent robbery at his musician girlfriend, Kelly Khumalo's home in 2014.
There were six adults in the family home when Meyiwa died, including Khumalo, her mother, sister Zandi, two children, Meyiwa’s friend Tumelo Madlala and Longwe Twala, who was dating Zandi at the time
Zanokuhle Mbatha was arrested five days after the shooting and appeared in court. He was freed on 11 November due to a lack of evidence and is now suing the police for R17m for wrongful arrest.
Nearly five years after his son was killed here are some promised made were made that he never got to see:
- Former police minister Fikile Mbalula - who is now the minister of transport - said that when he was appointed police minister in 2017 one of his top priorities was to crack the Senzo murder case.
He said at the time: "It is one of my priorities to crack this case with the team. I’m very positive we’ll make arrests but I don’t want to tip them (the killers) off by divulging the plans we are going to use. Discussing our strategy we will give them ideas to evade arrest."
Meyiwa's father, Sam had placed his hopes on Mbalula saying he was confident that his son's murder would be solved because Mbalula was young and energetic.
- SAPS detectives head Major-General Vincent Leshabane saying promised that police were “closing the net” on Senzo's killers. He said at the time, four year ago now, that investigators were regular visits to KwaZulu-Natal in their search for the missing killer or killers.
- SA Football Association president Jordaan announced a "Senzo Meyiwa Gun Campaign", promising that a statue would built of Senzo and be made of illegal firearms that would be melted.At the time, Jordaan was quoted as saying: "Our intention is to send a strong message that illegal guns should be removed from the streets. A lot of future leaders are being eliminated because of illegal guns. Instead of us making this only a SAFA thing, we have brought together gun-free society, police and the government."
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/SamMeyiwa?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SamMeyiwahas died and still there is no justice for Senzo Meyiwa - almost 5 years later. How many ministers and police commissioners have we had in that period? 😞 #RIPSamMeyiwa pic.twitter.com/O3tSncXwrE
— Ole Sihle Mlambo ✍🏿️ (@SihleSays)
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/BafanaBafana?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BafanaBafanaCaptain Senzo Meyiwa. My deepest condolences to the Meyiwa family and friends. Farewell Baba, may your saddened soul Rest In Peace. #RIPSamMeyiwa pic.twitter.com/tiqUEKIwFq
— Adv Busisiwe Mkhwebane (@AdvBMkhwebane)
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/ItsHeartbreakingThat?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ItsHeartbreakingThatSenzo Meyiwa's father died without knowing the killer of his son #RIPSamMeyiwa pic.twitter.com/57YOdfEwwW
— Afrika (@henniemudau)
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/RIPSamMeyiwa?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RIPSamMeyiwa #SenzoMeyiwa #SamMeyiwa pic.twitter.com/uCz8NncRgG
— Rochi_Rama (@RamaRochi)