What about my brother’s killers?

Published Oct 30, 2014

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We would hate to think government and law enforcement agencies do not treat all victims of crime equally, says Kaizer Nyatsumba.

The murder of Orlando Pirates and national goalkeeper Senzo Meyiwa over the weekend is absolutely despicable and has rightly been condemned by all South Africans. The Meyiwa family, his team and the nation have been robbed of a phenomenal talent that had begun to have its impact felt on the international footballing stage.

I join the millions of my compatriots in conveying heartfelt condolences to the Meyiwa and Orlando Pirates families.

I wish them strength to face this terrible situation during this difficult period. Like them and many other compatriots, I also look forward to the immediate arrest and prosecution of those responsible for so vile a deed.

Meyiwa was a much-liked footballer who distinguished himself at Orlando Pirates over the years and in the colours of our national football team in recent months, and went on to captain the national team.

Without doubt, he was one of the most talented young men playing football on the African continent and would appear to have been well on his way towards realising his ambition to be among the best goalminders in the world.

At only 27 at the time of this terrible tragedy, Meyiwa must certainly have had an even brighter future ahead of him, not only on the sports fields but also in life in general. At a time like this, our thoughts and prayers go to his young family, his parents and his siblings, who will continue to feel his gaping absence in their lives long after South Africa will have moved on.

The decisive action taken by the South African Police Service to improve their chances of speedily apprehending his murderers is to be welcomed.

By offering a reward of R250 000 for information leading to the arrest and successful prosecution of the murderers, the police have considerably improved their chances of making a breakthrough in this matter.

National Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega also moved equally swiftly to announce, at a press conference on Monday, the formation of a special unit to investigate this dastardly murder. In addition, various stakeholders, including the Minister of Sport, the ruling party and the Presidency, also condemned the killing and conveyed condolences to the Meyiwa family.

Also commendable was the speed with which the SA Police Service made arrests a week ago following the stabbing of ANC Member of Parliament Jackson Mthembu at an ATM machine in Witbank.

As I did through an SMS last week to Mthembu, I take this opportunity to again wish him a speedy recovery and to welcome the arrest of those who put him in hospital.

It is very encouraging to know that our police are capable of moving swiftly to effect arrests when crimes have taken place and to offer public rewards for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those who terrorise our communities. The speed with which the SA Police Service moved in response to the terrible criminal incidents mentioned above is a positive development that we would like to see replicated in all similar incidents.

Regrettably, however, my family and I did not see that level of police professionalism and that sense of urgency when our beloved brother, Elphus Mfana Adonis Motha, was found dead in the veld outside the Pretoria area, with multiple stab wounds, five-and-a-half years ago.

Instead, at every turn we have been confronted with police ineptitude of the worst kind with the original investigating officer, one Captain De Jongh of the Akasia Police Station, having been too quick to want to close the investigation.

When I objected to that decision, the investigation was then assigned to another police officer, who had to acquaint himself with the facts of the case, and it was subsequently handed over to a third investigating offer, Lieutenant MR Sema, a year ago.

Almost five-and-a-half years later, no arrests have been made, even though promises to that effect have been made from time to time.

My family and I accept readily that, educated though he was, our beloved brother did not have the kind of public profile in South Africa that Messrs Mthembu and Meyiwa have/had.

Instead, he was a humble man who had given two decades of his life to the service of his country as a teacher, a profession in which he rose to become principal of Sinqobile Primary School at Soshanguve.

So much did he love education that, over the years, he acquired more degrees and moved on to work first for the National Prosecution Authority and later for Eskom as an Ethics Officer after he had obtained his Masters in Public Administration from the University of the Witwatersrand.

My family and I would hate to think that the government of South Africa and its law enforcement agencies do not treat all victims of crime equally.

Although I wrote to President Jacob Zuma, then police minister Nkosinathi Mthethwa and then acting SAPS commissioner Tim Williams on behalf of the family, in the days after the brutal murder of my beloved brother, there was never any press conference held by SAPS to call on the public to come forward with information – and there was certainly no reward offered for such information.

Instead, over the past five years I have done everything possible to assist the police in their investigation. I have engaged the services of a private investigator, who amassed a lot of information and passed it on to the police, but still no arrests have been made.

I have spoken to both Phiyega and her predecessor, Bheki Cele, in their capacities as SAPS Commissioner during their respective tenures, and yet we continue to wait for news of the arrests of the architects of the murder of our beloved brother, Adonis.

This cannot be right. Indeed, it is so egregiously wrong that we, as a family, have vowed never to accept this situation.

Adonis was no less a citizen of this country and no less a taxpayer than any other victim of crime, and he deserves much, much better from those towards whose salaries he contributed through his taxes. As a family we, too, are no less citizens of this country and deserve much, much better.

The information amassed by my private investigators remains available to the police, and it is now captured in my book, Incomplete Without My Brother, Adonis, which will be launched in Johannesburg on Saturday.

As a family, we remain available to assist the police in their investigation and look forward to that day when they will tell us that arrests have been made.

As we commiserate with the Meyiwa family and wish Mthembu a speedy recovery, we find it totally unacceptable that the country’s law enforcement agencies would treat citizens differently, depending on their respective public profiles.

And so we ask, General Phiyega and your team: please find the killers of our beloved brother, Adonis, as soon as possible, and offer public rewards if that will help you to achieve that goal.

Given our unhappiness with the manner in which Adonis’s murder has been treated by the police so far, this week I will lay a complaint against the police with the Public Protector and the Independent Complaints Directorate.

* Kaizer Nyatsumba is a senior business executive in Johannesburg. His book, Incomplete Without My Brother, Adonis, will be launched in Johannesburg on Saturday.

** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Newspapers.

Cape Times

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