[This is a very strange incident. I don’t know what to make of it. One friend of mine thought it might be a type of intimidation aimed at this judge due to the Zuma trial. I think this judge was one of those considered, but he pulled out.

I don’t know the details, but the little black girl disappeared, and later they came back and found the child’s body in the house. If I didn’t know better, I’d like to ask the question: Could the child have been murdered elsewhere and the body brought back into the house afterwards?

Weird. Jan]

Johannesburg – National police chief Jackie Selebi is “furious” at police incompetence in the search for the slain four-year-old grandchild of Transvaal Judge-President Bernard Ngoepe.

“I have never experienced such levels of incompetence before”, Selebi said, vowing to hold to account the police responsible.

The child’s uncle, Frans Matlala, added: “I am demanding answers from the police on why they never found her on the day of the murder.”

It took police a day to find the half-naked body of Makgabo Bernice Matlala under a bed in her own home after she was feared kidnapped in a robbery on Wednesday morning.

Gauteng police commissioner Perumal Naidoo has denied any failure by the police.

‘Nothing missed’

“We didn’t miss anything, we did a systematic search all night and nothing was missed.

“We searched one side of the house yesterday (on Wednesday) and we searched the other today (on Thursday).

“We just happened to find the body during our second search.”

Makgabo’s family was told of the discovery late on Thursday afternoon.

They had been asked to leave the house while forensic investigations were underway.

It was not clear how Makgabo died or whether she was raped, said Selebi spokesperson Vishnu Naidoo.

The daughter of Springs magistrate Stephen Matlala, Makgabo was sleeping at the time of the robbery in which her 57-year-old nanny was blindfolded and gang-raped and the house in Impala Street ransacked.

Collecting evidence in house

Fearing her kidnapped, police combed the area overnight.

Her body was discovered the next morning under the base of a bed – thought not to be hers – by forensic and crime-scene management police collecting evidence in the house.

“How do you kill an innocent child? Whoever has done this… will meet her in heaven.

“I am sure these fools are happy with their work,” said Frans Matlala amid a crowd of neighbours and curious onlookers.

Based on the nanny’s statement, police were looking for three assailants, said senior-superintendent Martins-Engelbrecht.

Martins-Engelbrecht said police took in a man for questioning on Thursday afternoon, but he was not an attacker.

Police had received information that he was involved with the killers.

What that connection was had not yet been determined, she said.

The nanny was still in shock. She had been taken for treatment and had received counselling, but was not in hospital.

She was at a safe place, said Martins-Engelbrecht.

Ngoepe was to have presided over the rape trial of former deputy president Jacob Zuma, but recused himself when his impartiality was questioned because of his rulings pertaining to Zuma’s corruption trial, to be heard in Durban later this year.

‘There is no link at all’

Senior superintendent Nthabiseng Mazibuko said preliminary investigations ruled out the possibility of a link between the killing and the Zuma rape trial.

“There is no link at all. The findings of our preliminary investigations haven’t taken us in that direction.

“There is nothing that indicates a link,” Mazibuko said.

Expressing condolences to the family on behalf of the police, Naidoo condemned the “ruthless acts of violence” and promised to make sure the culprits were tracked down and brought to justice.

Gauteng safety and security MEC Firoz Cachalia said: “I am deeply affected by this tragedy and share the grief of the family.”

The African National Congress trusted the police would do everything possible to establish the circumstances of her death, and to catch the culprits.

ANC Youth League spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said: “The people who believe it is okay to kidnap and rape are animals who must not be allowed to be part of our society.”

The Democratic Alliance said its thoughts and prayers were with Ngoepe and his family, and they trusted that the police would spare no effort in finding those responsible.

Judicial protection called for

The United Independent Front has called for 24-hour protection for judicial officers and their families.

UIF leader Malizole Diko said: “…the UIF feels that the justice department is not doing enough to protect our judicial officers and their families.

“Witnesses, judges, magistrates and their families must be provided with 24-hour protection to ensure they dispense justice without fear.”

Source: News24.Com
URL: http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/New…/p>