Marianne Merten
Western Cape detectives have arrested African National Congress provincial secretary Mcebisi Skwatsha in connection with a suspected political murder in September 1997.
ANC councillor in the KTC squatter camp Gladstone Ntamo and Guguletu community policing forum head Danile Landingwe have also been arrested.
Skwatsha and Ntamo handed themselves over to the Claremont police after they learned warrants for their arrests had been issued. Landingwe was arrested in the early-morning hours at his home. All three have indicated they want to apply for bail.
Western Cape ANC leader Ebrahim Rasool said the party has full confidence in Skwatsha and the others. “They have nothing to hide,” he said.
The charges date back to September 19 1997, when the body of Milton Mbowana, chair of the South African National Civic Organisation in KTC and a member of the National Consultative Forum, was found in the Guguletu graveyard. This was at a time of tension in the area between ANC and the soon-to-be-launched United Democratic Front.
Detectives re-opened the investigation earlier this year. The first breakthrough came when they arrested a man who falsely claimed to be a nephew of former president Nelson Mandela in an attempt to join the New National Party in the Eastern Cape.
Daliwonga Mandela has already appeared in court several times and is awaiting trial. Members of a special investigation unit dubbed Operation Chaka believe he could be linked to political hits across South Africa.