Africa-Press – South-Africa. An Eastern Cape police officer has been arrested for the murders of two University of Fort Hare (UFH) staffers and the attempted murder of vice-chancellor and principal Sakhela Buhlungu.
The Mthatha-based constable was arrested in the Eastern Cape on Friday, bringing the number of people arrested for the Fort Hare attacks to six, with more arrests expected soon.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Luxolo Tyali confirmed that the suspect was scheduled to appear in the Alice Magistrate’s Court on Monday.
Five men are already in custody for the murders of UFH fleet manager Petrus Roets and Buhlungu’s bodyguard Mboneli Vesele, as well as the attempted murder of Buhlungu and others who allegedly worked to end corruption at the campus.
The five accused are Bongani Peter, Sicelo Mbulawa, Wanini Khuza, Mthobisi Khanyile and Mthobisi Dlamini.
Peter and Khuza were formerly employed by UFH, while Mbulawa did business with the institution.
Khanyile and Dlamini are alleged hitmen hired by Peter, Mbulawa and Khuza.
The Dimbaza Magistrate’s Court denied bail for Mbulawa, Khanyile and Dlamini, while Peter and Khuza abandoned their bail bid.
It is alleged that the police constable drove Khanyile and Dlamini to the houses of the targets.
A national police task team set up to probe the murders and attempted murders made the arrests.
Evidence before the court shows that 13 UFH employees, including Buhlungu, were on the hit list.
Three of those on the list – Roets, Vesele and another bodyguard of Buhlungu’s – were killed, while Msingathi Langa, a crucial state witness against the accused, died in a suspicious car crash on 30 April, just three months after Vesele died in a hail of bullets.
Their names were found by police in an abandoned Jeep SUV that was allegedly used by the hitmen.
Five of the 13 people were shot.
The photographs and names of the targets had price tags, with Buhlungu and deputy vice-chancellor for academic affairs Renuka Vithal’s heads said to be the most lucrative.
State advocate Nceba Ntelwa said during the accused’s bail hearing that Buhlungu’s head was priced at R5 million, while R3 million was offered to kill Vithal.
The state alleges that the hitmen pocketed R350 000 for killing Roets.
Buhlungu’s bodyguard of five years, Vesele was killed on 6 January when gunfire rained down on the vice-chancellor’s vehicle at his residence in Alice, Eastern Cape.
Buhlungu was not in the vehicle and was unharmed, but he had to be taken to a safe house.
On 19 May 2022, Roets was shot dead near his home in Gonubie while on his way home from the Alice campus. The court heard that people posing as beggars at a busy traffic intersection on Gonubie Main Road attacked him.
UFH said the national police task team had informed it about the officer’s arrest.
UFH spokesperson JP Roodt said: “The University of Fort Hare welcomes the latest arrest by the national SAPS [SA Police Service] task team following the murder of Mr Mboneli Vesele and the failed assassination attempt on the life of the vice-chancellor earlier this year, which shocked and gripped the nation. It is concerning, however, that a member of the SAPS stationed in Mthatha is embroiled [in the matter] and is a suspect.”
He added that progress made by the task team, especially the latest arrest, would go a long way towards reducing the climate of fear among staff and students.
National police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said the police would release a statement at a later stage.
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