OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday
POLICE are probing the possibility of drug and gang involvement in the execution-style killings of four people found bound and shot on a deserted gravel road near Pretoria, according to a report in The Star newspaper.
A source close to the investigation told the newspaper that police were also investigating the filtering of drugs and gangsterism from Cape Town to Johannesburg, but refused to elaborate.
Jenkins Tapela, a director of black empowerment company African Harvest, on Tuesday identified his wife, Agatha, as one of those who died sometime before 2am that morning on a deserted and unlit road in the Centurion suburb of The Reeds.
The Tapela couple has not been linked to the alleged drug involvement.
Pretoria detective Rudi van Olst said Tapela had also positively identified two other victims, leaving only one woman still unidentified. He told The Star the identification had given ”some direction” to the police investigation.
The four bodies were found in and alongside a Volkswagen Sharan multi-purpose vehicle registered in the name of Agatha Tapela.
All four had had their heads covered in plastic bags and had been shot in the head. Spent 9mm shells were found on the scene by police investigators.
Van Olst confirmed that Mrs Tapela had been in Gauteng to oversee the redecoration of the couple’s Johannesburg home.
He said that a meeting had been held with Mr Tapela and he would again be meeting with members of the investigating team when his frame of mind had improved.
Van Olst told The Star that police had recovered ”a lot of documentation” from the vehicle, and were examining it closely for any clues which could assist in the investigation.
ZA*NOW:
Death on a deserted Pretoria road April 10, 2001