Riot Hlatshwayo

Riot Hlatshwayo

Mpumalanga police have vowed to solve all the cold murder cases in the Bushbuckridge area dating back more than a decade.

There are apparently many unsolved murder cases in the province dating back many years. The police claim that many of these were politically motivated.

The police are determined to solve as many of these murders as possible and have resolved to take another look into previous investigations.

The province's organised crime unit announced that it would take over some of the cases from Acornhoek, Thulamahashe, Calcutta and Bushbuckridge police stations.

One of the cases likely to be reopened will be the 1999 murder of Boyboy Hlungwane, of Cottondale, near Acornhoek.

He was allegedly kidnapped from a local hotel where he was with his girlfriend and taken to a bridge between Songeni and New Forest by unidentified people.

He was found shot dead, with his throat slit, the following day.

The girlfriend was also subsequently killed, allegedly by the same suspects.

Two other unsolved cases likely to be in the spotlight again are that of Jerry Marule, of Thulamahashe, and his younger brother Gideon.

Jerry was shot dead in 1994 and his younger brother Gideon, of New Forest village, was killed in 1998. No arrests were ever made in either case.

"We have confidence in our detectives at station level but, as you know, cases in the area were handled by Limpopo until recently," Mpumalanga police organised crime unit spokesman Captain Leonard Hlathi said yesterday .

"We are now looking at dealing with these cases directly."

So determined are the police that they have already implemented their new plan.

The body of a slain local taxi boss, Great Mdluli, was exhumed on Tuesday. The police claim they have new evidence that could link a suspect to the murder.

Mdluli was allegedly shot dead in November 2003. A man was taken in for questioning but was released because of a lack of evidence.