Arrest 21yrs after cops killed
2008-03-12 19:09
Thabisile Khoza
Emalahleni - It's taken 21 years, but police believe they finally have caught a man who killed two policemen in 1987.
Louis Ernest Ngomane-Vuma, 51, was arrested at a squatter camp in Atteridgeville on March 2 when investigators received a tip-off.
He is implicated in the murder of Detective-Sergeant Solomon Botha, 38, and Detective-Constable Rinos Mashele, 27, who worked at Komatipoort police station in what was then known as the Eastern Transvaal.
"They were shot and killed execution-style while on their way to Pretoria on June 11 1987," said Superintendent Izak van Zyl.
The men were killed at Wakefield off-ramp on the N4 highway near Vosman outside Emalahleni (formerly Witbank).
Ngomane-Vuma was not asked to plead to murder when he appeared in Emalahleni Magistrate's Court on Tuesday.
He was remanded in custody until March 18.
Three other men believed to have been part of the attack are still at large.
- African Eye