Five men were arrested on Sunday in connection with the murder of reggae star Lucky Dube, East Rand police said.
Police arrested the five, aged between 31 and 35, in Spruitview on the East Rand on Sunday morning.
Police spokesperson Superintendent Eugene Opperman said police seized two stolen handguns and a VW Polo.
”Police also recovered three other stolen vehicles during the investigation this morning [Sunday],” he said.
The five are expected to appear in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.
Opperman said: ”The initial police reports regarding the murder being related to a botched hijacking remain correct.”
A crack team of detectives had been assembled to search for the killers.
Dube was shot dead in Rosettenville at about 8.20pm on Thursday night. The singer was travelling in a grey Chrysler with his two teenage children at the time.
Legacy
Condolences spanned the length and breadth of the political and cultural spectrum, with everyone from President Thabo Mbeki to the South African Football Players’ Union praising Dube’s legacy and raising concerns about the level of violent crime.
Mbeki made an appeal to South Africans to confront the ”scourge” of crime together.
”This is … very, very sad that this happened to an outstanding South African — an outstanding musician, world renowned,” he said as he was leaving for France to support the Springboks in the World Cup final.
Mbeki conveyed his condolences to the family and also to Dube’s fans in SA and around the world.
Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said: ”For more than two decades he confronted pertinent social and political issues through his music, bringing to the fore the pain and suffering of many South Africans.”
Arts and Culture Minister Pallo Jordan called Dube one of the most ”important and relevant” voices to come out of the country in the 20th century.
”What makes his death more painful is that it happened at a time when government has renewed its pledge to forge a partnership with people, communities and their institutions to fight crime,” he said in a statement. – Sapa