Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi on Wednesday paid tribute to the slain patrollers killed in Soshanguve, saying that a third suspect linked to the crime had been taken into custody.
"I promised you that within 72 hours we will get them…I am proud to report to you that of the five we have got the three already. Two of them have gone in front of the magistrate. They have gone in front of the prosecutor.”
His public utterances come despite the National Prosecuting Authority's (NPA) cautious approach to linking the suspects to the crime.
NPA regional spokesperson in Gauteng, Lumka Mahanjana, said that the police investigation into the fatal shooting of six patrollers has yet to determine how the two suspects, aged 27 and 50, arrested on Monday, were linked to the crime itself.
The 27-year-old was identified as a Zimbabwean national and their case was postponed until April 1 for further investigations and potential bail application.
Mahanjana said: "Those investigations include conducting an identity parade. The two accused persons are not linked to the killing that happened at the Soshanguve Informal Settlement. However, if investigations link them to that offence then those charges will be added.”
Lesufi stressed his desire to convey a strong message to the court, urging them to deny bail to the suspects and withhold leniency.
He also conveyed a strong message to undocumented immigrants, warning them not to exploit the hospitality of the locals and abuse their compassion.
“They can’t abuse our comfort. They can't abuse our love.... It is their time for them to leave us. We don’t hate them. They have turned our love against them. We have no problems with them but they have demonstrated that they don’t want to live with us. This is our country. We have nowhere to go. It is them that they must go and leave us in peace.”
He stressed that South Africans are not at war with anyone, but with those “who will abuse our love”.
“We are at war with anyone who will abuse our ubuntu because we want peace and nothing else, but peace,” he said.
City of Tshwane Deputy Mayor Eugene Modise bemoaned the fact that South Africa’s borders were porous.
He threw down the gauntlet at President Cyril Ramaphosa to change his tune by taking a tough stance against undocumented foreign nationals.
He said: “It will be wise for us to wipe out all illegal immigrants in the City of Tshwane. We are prepared and ready to wear the boots and if you want us to come and camp here we will do exactly that.”
Tshwane Executive Mayor Nasiphi Moya weighed in on the issue of undocumented immigrants, emphasising the need for action.
She said: “We know that South Africans live along illegal immigrants. There is nowhere we don’t go in the city where you don’t find illegal immigrants.”
Moya mentioned that the country was haunted by a painful past where bloodshed sparked change.
“We remembered Sharpeville where people lost their lives and only then would people want to listen. In 1976 blood was shed and only then people wanted to listen. Thirty one years into democracy, we as a government want to listen now because these six men have lost their lives. What kind of a deaf government are we?” she said.