A suspect appeared in court on Friday over the slaying of South Africa soccer team captain Senzo Meyiwa, whose murder during a robbery shocked the nation, police and prosecutors said.
Twenty-five year old Zenokuhle Mbatha — the first suspect to be arrested in the killing of the soccer star — was charged with “murder and armed robbery,” National Prosecution Authority spokesman Nathi Mncube said.
Mbatha was arrested after he was positively identified by some witnesses during an identity parade after police released identikits.
Photo: AFP
“It was decided that this person should be arrested and charged,” police spokesman Solomon Makgale said in a statement.
He appeared in court on Friday afternoon and was remanded in custody until Nov. 11 to allow him time to apply for legal aid.
Police said investigations into other suspects continue.
Meyiwa was gunned down on Sunday last week by an intruder while visiting his pop star girlfriend’s home about 30km south of Johannesburg, before the intruder made off with a cellphone.
More than 17,000 people were killed in South Africa last year, but the slaying of a popular sporting hero has stunned even that crime-weary nation.
On Thursday, police denied reports that they had arrested two people linked to the murder.
South African President Jacob Zuma had ordered the police to “leave no stone unturned in finding his killers” and bringing them to justice.
After many years in the shadows of national soccer in the country, Meyiwa had a meteoric rise to fame with Premier Soccer League club the Orlando Pirates.
The 27-year-old Durban-born talismanic captain of the national squad Bafana Bafana, led the team to victories over Sudan and Congo Brazzaville and draws with Nigeria, a country South Africa traditionally struggle against.
Meyiwa was to be buried yesterday at a special provincial shrine reserved for “heroes” in his coastal home city of Durban.
This was after Zuma declared that Meyiwa and former world 800m Olympic champion Mbulaeni Mulaudzi, who died in a car crash last week, be given “provincial official funerals.”
“The two sports stars have represented the nation exceptionally well in national and international sporting engagements, generating immense national pride and unity,” Zuma said.
“Their tragic passing has robbed us of the talents and contribution,” he said.
Zuma ordered that country’s flag be flown at half-mast in the respective provinces of eastern KwaZulu Natal and northern Limpopo on Saturday.
Crowds lined the streets of Durban on Friday as Meyiwa’s body arrived in the city where a memorial service was attended by hundreds of mourners.
On Thursday, thousands of South Africans jammed into a Johannesburg sports stadium at a combined memorial service to celebrate the lives of Meyiwa, Mulaudzi and a female professional boxer, Phindile Mwelase, who died last week after going into a coma following a fight.
The Africa Cup of Nations qualifier between South Africa and Sudan due on Nov. 15 has been moved from the northeastern city of Nelspruit to Durban to honor the slain captain.
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