Pretoria - Police were offering a reward of up to R100 000 for information about Johannesburg cluster commander Maj-Gen Tirhani Maswanganyi's death, Gauteng commissioner Lt-Gen Mzwandile Petros said on Wednesday.
“We are working around the clock to make sure this case is solved,” Petros told reporters in Johannesburg.
“We are appealing to the public... [and] we are giving a reward of up to R100 000, depending on the kind of information you give.”
Maswanganyi was found dead in a field near Hammanskraal, north of Pretoria, near the R101 road, in the early hours of Tuesday. His hands and feet were tied.
A police patrol found Maswanganyi's abandoned Isuzu bakkie next to the road on Monday evening. A police uniform and police identification card were in the bakkie, which prompted a search.
Petros said a post mortem was being conducted to determine the cause of death.
Although there were no gunshot wounds, there was a wound on Maswanganyi's chest. Police were not sure what caused it. Maswanganyi's two cellphones were missing. It did not seem like anything was stolen.
He said police did not want to speculate whether Maswanganyi was killed because of his involvement in a murder case.
“He would have been, as a cluster commander, involved in the investigation. We don't want to speculate that this officer was killed because he was involved in the investigation.”
Petros said he was aware that Maswanganyi had been subpoenaed to testify in court because he had been present during the interrogation, but he was not the key witness.
Petros said that Maswanganyi, who joined the police in 1982, was a passionate person who contributed immensely towards fighting crime in the province.
“The SA Police Service is shocked by the incident... , we are working around the clock to make sure this case is solved,” he said. - Sapa