AfriForum today praised the South African Police Service for the breakthrough in the Senzo Meyiwa murder case. The civil rights organisation, which represents the Meyiwa family in the investigation of the murder of the former Bafana Bafana captain, also highlighted the fact that the SAPS was willing to involve Adv. Gerrie Nel and AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit in their investigation during the past few months.
AfriForum’s reaction follows after the SAPS arrested five suspects today for the murder of the 27-year-old Meyiwa who was shot dead in a house in Vosloorus six years ago, on 26 October 2014. The suspects will appear in the Boksburg Magistrate’s Court tomorrow, 27 October. Sifiso Meyiwa, Senzo’s brother, also participated in a media conference today in Pretoria with AfriForum and will also attend tomorrow’s court hearing with Adv. Nel, Head of AfriForum’s Private Prosecutions Unit.
“AfriForum’s involvement in this case has amongst others, contributed to the moving of the case from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Johannesburg to the DPP Pretoria, which meant that focus could be placed on key elements of the case. The Private Prosecution Unit also expressed their dismay at the composition of the SAPS investigative team to police management and after some changes were made to the team, the investigation was able to progress,” says Adv. Nel.
The investigative team supplied a full description of the facts to AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit and Adv. Nel complimented the investigative team for their thorough investigation. “We now know it wasn’t a robbery went wrong, but in fact an assassination. The challenge now is to bring the mastermind behind the murder to justice,” says Adv. Nel.
According to Kallie Kriel, CEO of AfriForum, the Meyiwa family and Senzo Meyiwa’s fans deserve to see justice for the murder. “The arrest of the suspects is the first step in the process to ensure justice is served, and AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit will continue to assist the Meyiwa family in the case,” says Kriel. He says the constructive cooperation between the SAPS and AfriForum in this case is also an example of what can be achieved when the SAPS and civil society work together in the battle against crime.
Senzo Meyiwa’s brother, Sifiso, has expressed his gratitude towards the SAPS and AfriForum on behalf of the Meyiwa family with the progress of the case. “Although we are grateful that the arrests were made, we remain anxious that the mastermind was not arrested. In the view of the established cooperation between our legal team from AfriForum and the SAPS, we remain hopeful that more arrests will follow,” says Meyiwa.
