Pretoria - Police have arrested three suspects in connection with the murder of a Mozambican national who was who stabbed to death on Saturday.
Street vendor, Emmanuel Sithole, was stabbed after an alleged altercation with the suspect in Alexandra, north of Johannesburg, as the township emerged from a night of violent attacks on foreign nationals.
Photographs of Sithole being attacked while pleading for his life were published in the Sunday Times newspaper yesterday which sparked a nationwide reaction.
Sithole from Mozambique is the seventh person known to have died in the attacks countrywide.
“We arrested three suspects last night in Alexandra in connection with murder of Emmanuel Sithole. We are still searching for the fourth suspect,” police confirmed on Monday.
The residents in Alexandra played a big role in finding the suspected killers.
According to police, murder exhibits were seized as evidence during the arrest.
The suspects will appear in the Alexandra court on Tuesday.
The arrests comes as the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (NATJOINTS) on Sunday took various measures to ensure that the Gauteng police receive urgent support in tracking down the perpetrators of and witnesses to the barbaric attack.
Among the measures undertaken was the deployment of a dedicated tracking team which were given copies of the photographs published in the newspaper as well as national detectives who have been requested to support their Gauteng counterparts to ensure that every aspect of the investigation is conducted professionally.
Other measures included an intelligence committee which has been directed to ensure that as much information as possible is gathered and analysed to assist the police teams deployed.
The NATJOINTS is currently operational on a 24 hourly basis and various government departments and agencies are working tirelessly in an integrated manner to ensure that attacks on foreign nationals are brought to an end as soon as possible.
All law enforcement operations are being coordinated via this structure. - SAnews.gov.za
