Financial website Moneyweb reported on Wednesday that murdered mining magnate Brett Kebble was in the wrong place at the wrong time and said it appeared that his death was the result of a failed car hijacking, and not an assassination.
Earlier, the South African Press Association quoted business partner Andile Nkuhlu as saying Kebble had been the victim of a callous, premeditated crime.
”This was pure assassination. There is no doubt about it,” Nkuhlu said. ”I was at the scene. There was no attempt at a robbery. I saw it with my own eyes. The truth will come out about what happened to the life of this great South African.”
But Moneyweb quoted ”reliable sources” as saying two vagrants witnessed the murder in Melrose Street over the main Johannesburg-Pretoria highway.
Senior Superintendent Chris Wilken told the Mail & Guardian Online on Wednesday afternoon that there were no new developments in the case.
Wilken said he could neither confirm nor deny that there had been eyewitnesses to the murder.
He said a forensic team was still on the scene of the crime.
”A lot of people are making up stories about witnesses,” he said. We don’t know if he was led into an ambush or if he was followed.”
‘Classic’ hijack technique
Moneyweb said it appeared that the alleged hijackers had relied on a ”classic” technique in which a man had laid down on the road to force the vehicle to a halt.
The website said Kebble had apparently stopped his car, and then a second individual joined the man lying on the ground.
Moneyweb said according to its information, the vagrants saw the two men approaching Kebble’s Mercedes, witnessed a scuffle and heard loud shouting.
The website said the men had then started shooting through the side windows of the car.
One of the last people to see Kebble alive was his communications strategist, Dominic Ntsele. Ntsele arrived at Kebble’s home at 7pm.
The two men chatted and sang along to the Gershwin tune Summertime.
Ntsele left Kebble at about 8.30pm.
Kebble’s wife and children were reported to be in Cape Town.
Kebble was a ‘true patriot’
The ANC Youth League (ANCYL) said on Wednesday that Kebble had been a true patriot whose work and dedication should serve as a fundamental lesson for those in business.
It said it was shocked and saddened by the ”brutal and cold-blooded killing” of Kebble.
South Africa has lost a true patriot, ”whose selflessness and dedication to the emancipation of our people will remain a beacon and a legacy for generations to come”, it said.
”Such dedication and commitment demands us to count him among the true patriots of our nation whose work and dedication should serve as a fundamental lesson for those in business.”
It said Kebble’s murder was ”one death too many” and called on South Africans to ”act in unison and lend a hand to the criminal justice system to throw the book at these perpetrators of this heinous crime”.
Kebble, who was a member of the ANC, last year responded to a question about the financial support he had given to the party in the Western Cape by saying he was performing a public duty by giving financial assistance for the development of democracy.
”I am a patriot and an ardent supporter of our new democracy,” Kebble said at the time. ”While I am a member of the ANC and support its policies, I will also support any political party that upholds patriotic and democratic principles.”
Kebble said it was up to those parties that he had supported if they wanted to make his donations public, but he had no wish for secrecy.
”If they decide to publicly acknowledge my support, they have my blessing to do so,” he said.
ANCYL link
There have been reports that some senior ANCYL leaders served as ”fronts” for some of Kebble’s business interests.
The former director of the National Prosecuting Authority, Bulelani Ngcuka, was said to have suggested to newspaper editors in 2003 that Kebble’s alleged financial support for the ANCYL was for protection, political favours and manoeuvring in muddy business deals.
Kebble’s advocate Willem Heath said after this that he had been instructed by Kebble’s father and business partner, Roger Kebble, to investigate abuse of power by Ngcuka and former justice minister Penuell Maduna.
The Democratic Alliance expressed its condolences on Wednesday to the Kebble family, and said it hopes the police will solve the murder soon.
”Given the extreme nature of the crime and the prominent role played by the deceased in South African politics and business, it is important that the police get to the bottom of this matter urgently in the public interest,” said DA spokesperson Helen Zille.
United Democratic Movement (UDM) leader Bantu Holomisa said: ”Such assassinations could easily undermine investment in the country. It should be investigated thoroughly and quickly, so that we don’t allow the development of a culture of settling differences through the barrel of a gun.”