Three men have been identified as suspects for the murders of politician Robert Smit and his family in Springs 29 years ago, Beeld reported on Thursday.
According to unnamed sources in the intelligence community, two of the suspects were part of the apartheid-era security police and the third a member of ”a task team”.
According to Beeld, Smit, a National Party candidate, was killed to stop him publicising information about bank accounts the former government had in several foreign countries.
Billions of rands of taxpayers money were in about 15 accounts from which organisations fronting for the apartheid government were paid.
Smit and his wife Jean-Cora, were killed along with their children Robert, then 14, and Liza, then 13.
Suspected of involvement in the murders, security police member Phil Freeman committed suicide in Cape Town in 1990. According to the paper, Smit was to meet with Freeman on the night of his murder.
Shortly before the murders two stiletto knives addressed to Freeman were delivered from Italy to a police station in Cape Town.
Jean-Cora Smit was stabbed 14 times with a similar knife. The second suspect, Dries Verwey, was found dead in Port Elizabeth. Investigators believe he was killed — and did not commit suicide as was believed — as he was right-handed and had
been shot in the left side of the head.
The third man, known only as RA, is living in Australia. No application had been made to have RA extradited from Australia as investigators still had to take certain statements.
Advocate Tori Pretorius, in charge of the investigation into the Smit murders at the National Prosecuting Authority, told Beeld: ”I cannot correct anything you have said.” – Sapa