Africa-Press – South-Africa. Police have established a task team to investigate hits and attempted hits at the University of Fort Hare in the Eastern Cape.
Police said the “multi-disciplinary” team would “closely investigate the pattern of threats on the lives of the staff members”.
During a visit to the university on Wednesday, police management said they were “intensifying their responses to recent violent and fatal attacks” that led to two deaths.
The visit was led by Police Minister Bheki Cele, State Security Deputy Minister Zizi Kodwa and national police commissioner General Fannie Masemola.
On Friday, an attempt was made on the life of the university’s vice-chancellor, Professor Sakhela Buhlungu.
During the shooting outside Buhlungu’s residence in Alice, his bodyguard, Mboneli Vesele, was killed. Buhlungu was unharmed and then moved to a safe location.
In May 2022, News24 reported that the university’s fleet manager Peet Roets was shot dead near his house in Gonubie after leaving the university’s Alice campus.
The task team appointed by the police would report directly to the office of the national police commissioner and was expected to commence its investigation into Vesele’s murder, said police ministry spokesperson Lirandzu Themba.
The team would also investigate other alleged attempted hits on university staff and Roets’ murder, she said. It will include detectives, forensic analysts and members of the Organised Crime and Crime Intelligence units.
Hawks members will also be part of the team.
Cele said: “it is quite clear that the local police are just not working fast enough in making arrests, and this newly established national team, through its work, must send a strong message to criminals that this government will not be threatened or shaken and will certainly not back down or co-govern with criminals.”
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