No arrest has been made six weeks after the killing of University of Fort Hare vice-chancellor professor Sakhela Buhlungu’s bodyguard.
Giving a report on the progress of the investigation into the killing of Mboneli Vesele, who was shot dead on January 6 outside Buhlungu’s residence in Alice, Eastern Cape, Police Minister Bheki Cele said a task team from the SA Police Service (SAPS) head office has been established to investigate the matter.
In his written reply to parliament’s committee, Cele said a task team is led by a divisional commissioner of crime intelligence.
Vesele was gunned down in what is suspected to have been a hit which Buhlungu has linked to his clean-up campaign to rid the historic university of corruption.
Some of the 107-year-old university’s alumni include former heads of state Nelson Mandela, Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, Botswana’s Seretse Khama, Lesotho’s Ntsu Mokhehle and Yusuf Lule of Uganda.
Responding to whether Buhlungu has been provide with adequate police security following various attempts on his life, Cele said: “A threat and risk assessment was conducted by the SAPS crime intelligence division and recommendations were made to the management of FHU [Fort Hare University] to put adequate measures in place to protect the vice-chancellor.
“Regular patrols by the local police station are conducted in the vicinity of the vice-chancellor’s residence.”
The crime statistics for the last quarter of 2022 show that 7 555 murders were reported between October and December, representing an increase of 10.1% from the same period in 2021.
In a statement following Vesele’s killing, Cele’s office assured the management of Fort Hare that the police were intensifying responses to attacks that have taken place in and around the university.
Cele, who led a delegation that visited the university on January 11 which included Deputy Minister of State Security Zizi Kodwa and national police commissioner General Fannie Masemola, said at the time that a multi-disciplinary team has been established to closely investigate a pattern of threats on the lives of university staff members.
“The scope of the investigative team will also include other alleged attempted hits on university staff, including the murder of Fort Hare University fleet manager, Petrus Roets, who was fatally shot in March last year,” Cele said at the time.
The police minister added that the high-level intervention was necessary and must produce results.
He lashed out: “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.”
He added that a multi-disciplinary team will include detectives, forensic analysts, crime intelligence, members of organised crime and directorate for priority crime investigation.
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