Two held over Limpopo killing

Two people were arrested on Friday for the murder of a Limpopo ward councillor in Tubatse, near Burgersfort, on November 26 last year.

Thabang Maupa, an ANC ward councillor of ward 5 in the Fetakgomo Tubatse Local Municipality who was shot dead in his car outside his restaurant, is believed to be the first casualty of the VBS Mutual Bank scandal.

Limpopo police spokesperson Colonel Moatshe Ngoepe said: “The deceased, 42, allegedly arrived to assist his wife to close up … and was accosted by an unknown vehicle and the suspect suddenly started firing shots.”

His wife survived the shooting. “Members of the provincial task and tracking teams assembled to hunt down the killers have been hard at work investigating this case,” provincial spokesperson Brigadier Motlafela Mojapelo said.

“Their efforts paid off when the two suspects were nabbed at gaMaroga village, outside Burgersfort.”

At the time of his murder, pastor Derick Mosoana, president of Christians of South Africa, told The Star newspaper that this was the “beginning of the onslaught”.

Mosoana reportedly said that there had been several attacks on the group of councillors “that is against VBS”.

In a report, the Great Bank Heist, which was published by the South African Reserve Bank last year, advocate Terry Motau found that the bank had been looted of over R2 billion through creating fictitious deposits. Several high-ranking politicians have been implicated.

Maupa was outspoken about VBS on social media, posting a composite picture on his Facebook page with the message: “#VBS Bank! Bring back the money. We want our money for service delivery.”

The composite contains a screenshot of an eNCA broadcast that states the Burgersfort municipality in Limpopo had invested R245 million in VBS.

Fetakgomo Tubatse local municipality lost R230 million which was invested in VBS.

In July last year, mayor Maudu Phokane said he was unsure if the R230 million invested in the bank would be recovered, Steelburger News reported.

According to IOL, Maupa had been receiving death threats and was gunned down after a council meeting in which he “called for decisive measures to be taken against his political seniors implicated in the VBS scandal”.

The suspects were to appear in the Praktiseer Magistrate’s Court near Burgersfort yesterday on a charge of murder. – News24 Wire