The ANC in the Free State has welcomed the arrest of a man believed to be the brains behind the killing of Piet Moletsane, an aspiring ward councillor for Virginia in Matjhabeng Local Municipality, who was gunned down in September last year.
Sephiri Jan Liphoko, 44, a former ward councillor, appeared in the Virginia Magistrates Court on Wednesday facing a charge of murder.
Police tracked him down over the weekend after the alleged hitmen, who were arrested in January this year, told members of the police’s provincial organised crime unit who sent them to eliminate Moletsane.
The case was postponed to May 13, 2022 for bail application.
The two alleged hitmen, aged 31 and 34, remain in custody.
The ANC Interim Provincial Committee (IPC) commended the police for the arrests, saying they had made progress in unravelling circumstances leading to the murder of Moletsane on September 23 last year.
“The arrest of these suspects shall bring hope to the community of Matjhabeng and the Free State, and it sends a strong message to all the criminals that the long arm of the law shall catch up with them,” IPC spokesperson Oupa Khoabane said in a statement.
He said the arrest of the suspects comes at the time when the IPC, during an interaction with former president Thabo Mbeki, made an observation that “since the democratic victory in 1994, the movement has attracted within its ranks large numbers of opportunists, careerists and criminal enterprise that seek ANC membership to pursue their private interests”.
“It was an observation that recognised the fact that some of the challenges bedevilling the organisation are as a result of criminal elements that have infiltrated the ANC and find their way into leadership,” he stated.
“We shall leave no stone unturned in weeding out such elements from our membership.”
Moletsane was shot and killed as he prepared to leave a tavern where he was working in Meloding, Virginia.
He was active in politics at the time of his death and was set to contest in the local government elections in November last year. – Staff Reporter