Durban - KwaZulu-Natal private investigators have been roped in by the family of slain football star, Senzo Meyiwa, to help the police to hunt down his killers.
Ten investigators from Magma Investigations – the company behind a string of recent successes in tracking down wanted suspects – flew out to Johannesburg last night.
They have been asked to help despite national police commissioner, General Riah Phiyega, announcing that a multidisciplinary task team had been appointed to investigate the murder of the former Orlando Pirates and Bafana Bafana captain.
Spokesman for the Meyiwa family, Siyabonga Miya, said the decision to hire private investigators was taken to assist the police, not shun them.
“We have decided to hire private investigators to assist the state and law enforcement… As Senzo belongs to the people of South Africa, we owe it to the public to help the police; they need help,” he said.
“We still need people with information to come forward and assist the police. We have faith in the police.
“We also want to bring closure and to end the rumours that are going around so there is peace for South Africans.”
Miya said the decision was made by the family on Monday evening.
He would not say if the family would be paying.
Magma’s chief executive, Shaheen Suleiman – who was accompanied by ex-police spin doctor Vincent Mdunge – said the family needed closure.
He said his team would be working closely with the police.
“We are going to start at the crime scene and talk to the investigating officer and then we will take it from there… We are going to work together… we will hold hands with the police and work together,” he said.
“I think it’s going to be a difficult case, but we will investigate and do our best. Every case has its challenges,” he said, confirming that 10 investigators would work to solve the murder case.
Asked what the stumbling block for the police was, he said: “There’s no stumbling block for the police, I think the police are capable of doing it, but we would just like to assist the police and we want to assist South Africa as well in fighting crime.”
Meanwhile, security around the residence of the Meyiwa family has been tightened until the footballer’s burial at the weekend.
Satellite station
There has been a strong police presence around the Meyiwa home in uMlazi since Monday, with the SAPS and metro police monitoring traffic and mourners.
A police officer at the scene said with all the security detail that needed to be considered, some officers from the Bhekithemba police station in uMlazi would be reporting directly to the satellite station set up three houses away from the family home.
The police officer said more police units would assist in the process leading up to the funeral – including the public order policing unit, which would monitor proceedings at King Zwelithini Stadium.
KwaZulu-Natal police spokesman, Colonel Jay Naicker, said of the satellite station: “We are concerned about the high emotions as a result of the killing of Senzo.
“In the interest of the safety of everyone, we have established a joint operation centre to monitor the situation at uMlazi (near Meyiwa’s home) until the burial,” he said.
Daily News