The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has called on police to urgently investigate the killing of its Kabokweni branch treasurer, Dan Makutu.
Makutu was gunned down near a spaza shop in Kabokweni, outside White River in Mpumalanga, on Christmas Day.
Makuti was laid to rest at the Rocky’s Drift cemetery between Mbombela and Whiteriver.
The funeral was attended by party deputy president Godrich Gardee and suspended African National Congress (ANC) treasurer Mandla Msibi, amongst others.
50-year-old Dan Makutu was described as a soldier who died in battle, fighting for improved service delivery in his communities.
It’s alleged that Makutu received a phone call before the shooting. The Makutu family has expressed hope that justice will prevail. His sister, Carol Makutu-Nkambule says “As a family, we want to see justice, we want those that killed my brother Dan Makutu to be found, to be arrested. We want to see their faces, we want to hear why they killed him, they were not fighting. There was no fight so we just want to know, who are they? Why did they do it, we want them to serve time in jail and pay for what they did.”
The mourners, who attended the funeral, say police should bring the perpetrators to book and ensure that they rot in jail.
EFF provincial chairperson, Collen Sedibe says they cannot allow criminals to share the same space with communities. He says police need to put them where they belong.
“They must know that we are not afraid of them, or I’m not afraid of them. And I would confront them head-on, they can run they can hide, but we are going to find them. They are known killers these are the ‘Nkabis’, when they want to kill people they go to this one and hire people to kill other people but they are not doing anything. We can’t be afraid of criminals, we can be afraid of murderers, who kill people daylight is not only Dan they are many.”
The EFF has called on the police to urgently investigate the killing of Makutu. EFF deputy president, Godrich Gardee, spoke at the funeral.
“It has happened before in a similar incident where a high profile have been gunned down and it was hit assassination and police try to impress the community and society by arresting a quick arrest and only to find out that they have arrested wrong people. In this particular incident, we should call the police to do much investigation to bring together pieces before they arrest. They mustn’t arrest to do an investigation but they must investigate to arrest.”
The EFF claims that Dan Makutu’s killing was politically motivated. Makutu was elected the party’s branch Treasurer three months ago. No arrest has been made.
