Man up for Marloth Park murder
2008-01-10 15:52
Thabisile Khoza and Sydney Masinga
Marloth Park - A Mozambican man has appeared in court on charges of killing a tourist in the crime-wracked holiday town of Marloth Park in Mpumalanga.
Joseph Tembe, 20, was arrested while asleep in his shack at the Orlando informal settlement in Hectorspruit on January 5.
"We got a tip-off about his whereabouts and arrested him immediately," said Constable Richard Khumalo on Wednesday.
The murder victim was Fanie Keyser, 47, a production manager at a pharmaceutical company in Pretoria.
He, his wife, Annelize, and 13-year-old son, JC, had just arrived at the house they were staying at after having dinner at a local restaurant on December 29.
His wife told police that her husband, who was always armed with a gun and security conscious, had told her and their son to wait in the car while he went to check that everything was in order in the house.
His caution wasn't unfounded. Crime is high in the town, which borders the Kruger National Park and is popular with tourists because wild animals are known to roam the streets.
Security drill
Keyser returned to the car to tell his family they could go the house. While his wife and son went to the front door of the house, he returned to the car to fetch some of their things.
"She told police that she then heard gunshots," said Khumalo.
She and her son immediately ran to a room as part of a security drill her husband had taught them.
She told her son to lie in the furthest corner, but one of the suspects forced the muzzle of an AK47 into the door jamb before she could lock it. He tried to force it open, saying: "Ons soek net die geld" (We're just looking for money).
Through sheer force she was able to keep the door closed and prayed out loud until he eventually left.
She looked out the window and saw the men take items from the car and then walk away.
Her son ran out and pressed the panic button that hung around his father's neck.
Security guards arrived within minutes and Keyser was taken to the house of a local doctor, but it was too late. He was dead.
Tembe was not asked to plead to murder when he appeared in the Malalane periodical court on Tuesday.
Search comtinues
He was remanded until January 11 pending further investigation.
Police are still looking for the second suspect.
Before the holidays, Democratic Alliance chief whip in Mpumalanga, Clive Hatch, called for the controversial commando system to be reintroduced to patrol Marloth Park following 12 attacks in the town in November and December.
The commandos system is currently being phased out, however, after it was found that it was inappropriate for a democratic state to use military personnel in a policing role, whether on a permanent or semi-permanent basis.