Africa-Press – South-Africa. Police have confirmed that ANC MP Tina Joemat-Pettersson’s death will now be the subject of an inquest investigation.
“An inquest docket has been registered and under investigation,” police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said.
She added that police were still “awaiting a final report from the Department of Health” on Joemat-Pettersson’s cause of death.
This would be communicated only to her family and would not be released to the public, Mathe said.
Under the provisions of the Inquest Act, police are legally obliged to investigate any death that they suspect is the result of anything other than natural causes.
Inquest dockets are opened in circumstances where there are, at the time of the person’s death, no obvious signs of foul play.
At the time of her death on 5 June, Joemat-Pettersson was embroiled in the latest drama in suspended Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s impeachment saga.
Mkhwebane’s husband, David Skosana, laid a complaint with the police, alleging that Joemat-Pettersson approached him to elicit bribes of R200 000 each for herself, Section 194 committee chairperson Qubudile Dyantyi and ANC chief whip Pemmy Majodina.
Mkhwebane subsequently laid a complaint against the three ANC MPs with Parliament’s Joint Committee on Ethics and Members’ Interests.
Mkhwebane, backed by the EFF, UDM and ATM, now insists that Dyantyi must recuse himself as chairperson, based on her husband’s allegations.
At a media briefing last week, Mkhwebane bizarrely blamed the government, Parliament and the judiciary for Joemat-Pettersson’s death, but admitted she didn’t know the cause of death.
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