Polokwane - A tenth suspect, another teenager, has been arrested in connection with the brutal murder of Thoriso Themane, 27, last month in Polokwane, Limpopo police said on Saturday.
"The provincial commissioner of the South African Police Service [SAPS] in Limpopo Lt-Gen Nneke Ledwaba is elated by the continued sterling efforts manifested by the detectives involved in the investigation of the brutal murder of Thoriso when the tenth suspect was apprehended," spokesman Brigadier Motlafela Mojapelo said in a statement.
The 13-year-old suspect was arrested on Friday after he was brought to Polokwane police station by his parents. "This after intense investigations were gradually closing the net around this latest suspect. The teenager is a scholar at the local agricultural school and a resident in the vicinity where the crime was committed," Mojapelo said.
Soon after Themane was murdered on Saturday, February 23, "social media went abuzz with the video of his brutal attack circulating on various platforms and subsequent to this the police put into action the 72-hour activation plan".
This resulted in the immediate arrest of five teenagers on Monday, February 25. These arrests were then followed by the arrest of the sixth suspect, also a teenager, the following day. One of the teenagers had since been released as she could not be linked to the crime. Three adults, aged 36, were arrested on Thursday, February 28, and this was followed by the arrest of another teenager on Friday, March 1.
Ledwaba had since "dispelled the information circulating on social media suggesting that the son of the retired police officer who boasted on social media about this brutal incident has been released from custody".
“I want to put it categorically clear that all the arrested suspects will duly be processed through the ongoing court processes and that no one will receive any preferential treatment,” Ledwaba said.
The latest arrested suspect would appear in the Polokwane Children’s Court on Monday on a charge of murder. The three adults would appear separately in the Polokwane Magistrate’s Court on Monday for formal bail applications. The six teenagers would again appear in court on Thursday, March 14, Mojapelo said.
According to media reports, the murder was related to alleged gangsterism involving teenagers.