Darran Morgan
Sifiso Nkabinde’s alleged assassins were arrested only after the docket was removed from Richmond police investigators and given to KwaZulu-Natal’s deputy director of public prosecutions, Chris McAdam.
McAdam’s team of supercops who finally cracked the case included controversial Captain Johan Meeding – who was transferred out of Richmond last July by the former minister of safety and security, Sydney Mufamadi.
Mufamadi said he believed Meeding had been part of a “third force” which had been “contributing to the breakdown of trust between the Richmond community and the police”.
In stark contrast, one of Mufamadi’s replacement policemen, provincial head of detectives Director Eric Nkabinde, has been accused of holding back the Sifiso Nkabinde docket for four months – which contained the same information used to arrest the six men this week for the murder.
The identities of the six men arrested so far for the murder of the United Democratic Movement leader in January this year suggest that the hit was carried out by a group of local men with strong ties to Richmond African National Congress structures, and with the help of professional criminals from Pietermaritzburg.
Sources close to the investigation also said that the killers may have approached local and provincial politicians for payment after the hit following rumours that the ANC had put a price on the head of Sifiso Nkabinde. The ANC had not done so.
Three of the suspects arrested were close to Richmond mayor and ANC leader Andrew Ragavaloo, while a fourth suspect has ties to a provincial leader.
Bruce Mhlongo (26), a twice-convicted armed bank robber who escaped imprisonment by turning state witness, had guarded an ANC leader’s home by contract. Mhlongo became alienated from the ANC in 1997 after he was arrested for robbery.
Ragavaloo’s most trusted bodyguard, Anil Jelal, sometime driver, bodyguard and local traffic officer Joseph Ngcongo and one-time bodyguard Danny Mbanjwa were also arrested this week. They are being detained and their bail hearings will begin on Monday.
McAdam’s team of “untouchables” trod on many toes by removing the docket and arresting the suspects, and they are likely to stir up more trouble in the coming weeks, particularly as they begin to probe why Eric Nkabinde had not made any arrests.
In-fighting between McAdam’s team and Eric Nkabinde has marred what should have been a celebration of the success of Clifford Marion, McAdam’s detective commander.
McAdam’s team is investigating charges against Eric Nkabinde for allegedly planting a handgun into evidence. Marion was reluctant to be drawn into the details of this investigation, but confirmed that it was being pursued.
Members of the team said the original police investigators into the murder may have “sat on” the docket. “They had everything, but appear to have done nothing with it,” said one senior member.
The team is also probing the handling of another high-profile investigation supervised by Eric Nkabinde – the so-called “Tavern Massacre” in which eight people were gunned down while watching a World Cup football match in a local night spot. Richmond deputy mayor Percy Thompson was killed in the attack. McAdam believes that a police officer may have perjured himself during that investigation.
McAdam defends his decision to rehabilitate Meeding and bring him back on to the Richmond beat from his exile in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands by saying the discredited policeman had been one of the most effective policemen in Richmond.
“We find it very frustrating that one of the suspects was instrumental in having the only police officers actually making arrests in Richmond removed from working in the town,” said McAdam.
Jelal was central in petitioning the Ministry of Safety and Security to get Meeding, Captain Rudie Kok of the national investigations task unit, and Captain Jerry Brooks and Captain Shane Morris of internal security removed from Richmond.
Before his transfer, Meeding shocked Richmond residents when – while he was head of detectives in the area last year – he instructed people to inform Sifiso Nkabinde first whenever they searched the area.
He was investigated by the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD) for his involvement in the execution-style killing of five ANC councillors in Richmond last year.
Residents had alleged he escorted the killers’ vehicle to the scene of the killing, but none were prepared to give statements to the ICD and no action was taken against Meeding.
Meeding maintained that on the night of the murders he was at a Bible study group and had 20 witnesses who were present and prepared to testify on his behalf. He said his transfer had been a “racial issue” and that “the ANC is getting rid of white officers”.
McAdam said Meeding had also assisted his team with other investigations into third force activities in KwaZulu-Natal.
With the Sifiso Nkabinde case in court, McAdam’s team will probably begin to investigate a number of political murders in the Impendle valleys, a vast region in the mountain country between Bulwer and Pietermaritzburg.
The intelligence upon which many of the cases in that region have been based was provided by Brooks, who turned his attention to Impendle after being kicked out of Richmond.