Pretoria - The net is closing in on the alleged killers of Mabopane councillor Tshepo Motaung. He was gunned down while driving from an ANC meeting on September 24.
While the police were on the suspects’ trail, they have pleaded for space to carry out the investigation into the murder of Motaung, who was a candidate in the November 1 local government polls.
Police Minister Bheki Cele previously said the suspects were known and arrests were imminent.
Asked by the Pretoria News about the looming arrests, he said: “I stand by that information. But I also explained that the police will need the space because when we arrest somebody, we don’t arrest that person for withdrawal or acquittal.”
He emphasised that the police needed “more time to have a tight case”.
“I know the community will expect that it happens quickly, but we are urging the community and the police to say: ‘Resist the pressure that will make you look like failures’.”
Cele said a special team was tasked to investigate the case and other killings reported in Mabopane, adding that the police were “not far from home in dealing with these matters”.
The police had heard about a marauding character, known as John Wick, in Mamelodi, who was allegedly behind the killings of members of the so-called Boko Haram gang, he said.
“We have heard the name and until we find the person, we will keep chasing but not only that; there are many other people and I am not going to call names here,” he said.
He, however, said the police were guarding against being sent on a wild goose chase for people who did not exist.
“Unfortunately, as the police, we have been made to chase the wild goose sometimes.That is the strategy of criminals to say ‘look at that side as they look at the other side’.”
The police, he said, had the profiles of those involved in gang-related activities in the township, and had put in place two task teams to clamp down on them.
Pretoria News