case study: The unresolved case
South Africa’s football captain Senzo Meyiwa died after being shot during a burglary. He was attacked after men entered his girlfriend’s house in Voloorus, South of Johannesburg. The South African Police Service said two men had entered the house, around 20:00, demanding mobile phones and valuables. A third men remained outside. All three fled on foot after shots were fired. He was declared dead on arrival at hospital (BBC news, 2014).
Three well-known personalities and a top cop were allegedly facing imminent arrest for defeating the ends of justice in the murder case of the deceased Senzo Meyiwa. A fourth person, who is also well-known, was also facing arrest for the murder. The decision to arrest the suspects came after they were taken to police headquarters in Pretoria, where they were questioned and also subjected to lie detector tests.
Sources within the justice and security cluster stated that the investigating team approached the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and requested them to authorise warrants for the arrest of the eight people. However, prosecutors slammed brakes on the operation, which was supposed to be carried out, and asked the elite cops to go find some missing pieces of the puzzle before they grant the warrants.
The suspects allegedly lied about what happened on the night Meyiwa was murdered to conceal evidence that would implicate the murder suspect. It was also alleged that one of the suspects phoned a top cop who rushed to meet him and fiddled with the firearm that was used to kill Meyiwa. However, the top cop said: “When Meyiwa was shot and killed, I received a call from General Mosikidi, who told me that Meyiwa was gunned down. I woke up and went to the hospital where his body was kept. “The scene was cleared and preserved. It told the police that I’m the only one who can crack this case and my offer still stands. How many times did they assemble a team of police officers from Bloemfontein and North West to try to solve this case but failed? How many times did they reconstruct the murder scene but came out with nothing? How many times did they question the people who were in the house and subjected them to lie detector tests but came out with nothing? The lie detector tests they are talking about were done and no one was implicated by them,” said the suspect. In October 2014, police wrongfully arrested Zamokuhle Mbatha in connection with the murder. He then sued the state for R17m (Malatji,2019:1)
In 2020 Five suspects have been arrested for their alleged role in the killing of Senzo Meyiwa. One of the suspects is believed to have been one of the people who pulled the trigger. The arrest took place in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal. Coincidentally, the arrests took place exactly six years after his shooting.
The news were announced at a media briefing held in Pretoria by Minister of Police Bheki Cele and national police commissioner General Khehla Sitole. He stated that the arrests arose from the efforts of the newly formed cold case team and was assisted by a multidisciplinary integrated approach to this investigation, which is working closely with the directorate for public prosecution. Sitole said that the investigation is ongoing, and that the police expect to make more arrests. On the day of the killing, there were seven people in the house in Voloorus; Sitole said that, of the people arrested today, only two were in the house that day.
The arrests cone after reports that police had found a firearm which was allegedly used to kill Meyiwa in a safe at the Cleveland police station. Sitole said that the police have been looking for the weapon for the duration of the investigation and that they used forensics to connect the suspect and the weapon to the scene of the crime. This was a very complex case and it required the use of many investigation tactics, Sitole said (Maybe,2020:1).
1.1. Against this background, do you think the police were skilled and professional in investigating this case from its initial phase to the arrest of the five suspects?
Use the criteria below as guidelines to write your portfolio:
. Formulate the title after reading the above scenario
. Cover Page
. Table of contents
. Write an introduction of one paragraph consisting of five to six sentences
. Briefly define the concepts that are relevant to the case study
. Discuss the value of expert assistance at a murder crime scene
. Discuss the use of polygraph (lie detector) and its defects
. Do you think police have acted professionally and swiftly when investigating the death of Senzo Meyiwa? State reasons for your answer
. Conclusion
. Technical formatting (editing, grammar and spelling, general presentation, format and neatness)
. List of references/Bibliography
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