Cops looking for assassin
2004-09-24 22:22
Johannesburg - Police are looking for a tall, burly man of about 35 years old in connection with an assassination attempt on Josiah Jele.
Jele, the chairperson of private security watchdog Sira, was shot three times in the chest and hand in his car in the driveway to his Lombardy West home in Johannesburg at 07:30 on July 29.
His assailant was wearing the uniform of a private security company and a bullet-proof vest and was using a 9mm pistol.
Johannesburg police released an identikit of the tall, well-built suspect on Thursday.
The suspect and two accomplices fled the scene in a Volkswagen Golf.
Police guarded Jele in hospital as they feared another attack on his life. He was still under police surveillance.
Sira legal advisor Prof Hans Visser said the attacker was wearing the uniform of a private security company.
"Sira regards this as an act by a hired assassin. It was a cold-blooded and professional attempt to get rid of Jele. It was a planned strategic move."
A typewritten threat was sent to several fax machines at Sira head offices in Pretoria about an hour after the unsuccessful attack.
The note, warning Jele and four other Sira officials to resign within 24 hours, read: "If you don't resign we will kill you. We know where your children go to school and where you live. We are watching you every day."
Anybody with information regarding the suspect has been asked to contact Captain Frans Kola of the Johannesburg unit against serious violent crime at 011-445-4900 or 082-557-7109.