One of the most-wanted suspected criminals will appear at the Mthatha magistrate’s court on Tuesday, 40 days after the mass murder in Bityi, Qunu in the Eastern Cape.
The suspect was nabbed during an joint police operation by members of the serious and violent crimes units in Eastern Cape and Gauteng.
The man’s arrest follows the deaths of seven people who were shot and killed by unidentified suspects in a small mud flat in the village on February 3.
Of the seven deceased, four were men and three were women aged between 32 and 46.
Their murder came a few months after the massacre of seven family members in the same area in November 2022. They were killed while preparing to bury a loved one.
Brigadier Thembinkosi Kinana, spokesperson for the police in Eastern Cape, said the team received a tip-off on Friday that the suspect was holed up at his girlfriend’s flat in Soweto.
Lieutenant-General Nomthetheleli Mene, Eastern Cape provincial police commissioner, said the police have cast their net wide for the remaining suspects, noting that the men in blue are determined to bring them to book.
“The criminals involved in these killings should by now have learnt a lesson that with our police officers, there is no running away and that there is no permanent hiding place,” Mene said.
“Even those who are under the false impression that they will not be found once they have crossed the border, they must think again. The Eastern Cape has no place for murderers.
“We shall continue [to hunt them down so that they can] answer for their deadly actions.”
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