More than three months later, police are still baffled by the murders of two prominent Ndlambe Municipality residents.
More than three months later, police are still baffled by the murders of two prominent Ndlambe Municipality residents.
Former Alexandria mayor and ANC chairperson of the Ndlambe region, Thembile Bethe, was shot dead in front of his home in Alexandria on 18 December, while Port Alfred businessman Andrew Reynolds was found dead with a gunshot wound to his head in November last year.
Alexandria SAPS spokesperson Inspector Lewelyn Coltman says the dossier for the Bethe case was sent to a Constable Madolo at the organised crime in East London in December. Despite several attempts to contact Madolo for the past 10 days, he was unavailable to comment at the time of going to press.
Director of administration at the SAPS in East London, Edumisa Mapuma, confirmed that the case is still being investigated. Police spokesperson Mali Govender said on Tuesday that the police have no suspects yet.
“We are probing different avenues, but the case is still being investigated,” she says. Govender says she cannot confirm earlier media reports that the murder was racially motivated.
“We don’t know,” she says. She is also not able to disclose any information with regards to the murder weapon.
“We don’t actually disclose firearm information, because it is still part of the investigation,” she says. In the Reynolds case, Grocott’s Mail reported last year that a hunting rifle and two cellphones were found hidden in a water tank situatednear Reynolds’ cottage at Boskeydell farm.
The rifle was sent to Port Elizabeth for ballistics tests. Grahamstown police spokesperson Captain Milanda Coetzer says police are still investigating the matter and cannot release any information at this point.
She says due to the sensitive nature of the issue, no information can be disclosed until the case has been heard in a court of law.
