A Pretoria High Court judge has obtained an affidavit from the Mozambican hitman who was allegedly hired to kill Mbombela municipality speaker Jimmy Mohlala in January last year.
Mohlala was a whistle-blower on the alleged tender corruption involving the building of the R2-billion Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit.
The judge, who cannot be named for his safety, met with the alleged hitman known as ''Josh" in the underworld at the Nerston border post near Piet Retief on Thursday. The border post is between South Africa and Swaziland. Josh, wearing a black tracksuit and white sneakers, made a 15-page hand-written confession before the judge. In the confession, Josh claimed that he had been hired by a senior Mpumalanga politician, a soccer boss and two businessmen. The self-confessed killer's meeting with the judge was witnessed by seven other senior government officials from the Justice Department and police.
The judge will now prepare the statement and submit it to police commissioner General Bheki Cele this week. Cele will then decide when to make an arrest and who must be arrested. Josh was initially telephonically interviewed by senior officials in Cele's office last month. Josh claimed that he and another hitman were responsible for the murder of former defence secretary January "Che" Masilela and made his death appear to have resulted from a car accident. Masilela died near Bronkhorst-spruit in August 2008 after he lost control of his BMW X5. The car caught fire and Masilela was burnt beyond recognition.
Cele yesterday declined to comment on the latest police breakthrough, including developments surrounding the confession made by Josh, saying the matter was at a "sensitive stage". Cele said: "I'd rather not comment on the matter."
Meanwhile, Mohlala's wife, Bonny, yesterday confirmed that she was suing police for R300000 for wrongful arrest and assault. She filed the lawsuit after police allegedly took her and her two children to the bush near KaNyamazane, outside Nelspruit, where they were allegedly tortured. She claims that police tried to force her and her children to make a false confession that they were involved in her husband's murder.
Source: Times Live
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