CONFUSION OVER GAY MURDER TASK TEAM & SUSPECT

Gauteng police have insisted that there is in fact a task team in place to investigate four of the eight murders of gay men in the province.

This contradicts a written statement by Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa in parliament on Tuesday which stated, more than once, that such a task team did not exist.

The Star newspaper, however, reported on Friday that both the provincial police and the ministry of police had now confirmed the team’s existence and said that the minister had made an error in his statement to parliament.

According to the police, four officers are currently working together to investigate four of the murders that appear to be connected.

For the first time, Gauteng police have also finally confirmed, as was stated by the ministry, that they are searching for one suspect for these four murders.

Despite the first murder taking place over two and half years ago, it was only this week that the police admitted that there might be a serial killer or single suspect in at least some of the cases.

Dawie Nel, director of the Pretoria-based LGBT rights OUT, slammed the police for having failed to warn gay men in the province that they might be the target of killer.

There is also confusion about who the suspect is. Police have previously named Nhlanhla Msimango as a suspect in one case, but the minister has since mentioned a ‘Tony Boy’ as a suspect in four cases, which include the first.

Police have yet to clarify if Msimango and ‘Tony Boy’ are therefore the same person.

The Democratic Alliance’s Shadow Minister of Police, Dianne Kohler-Barnard, expressed her outrage to The Star over the fact that “the media had to embarrass the police into doing their jobs”.

The murders of gay men began with Manolis Veloudos, who was killed in April 2010. He was followed by Jim Cathels in Berea in December 2010; Oscar O’Hara (33) in May 2011; a 47-year-old un-named landlord in Northcliff in August 2011; Siphiwe Selby Nhlapo (36) in Soweto in September 2011; Barney van Heerden (39) in Orange Grove, also in September 2011; HIV/Aids activist and television presenter Jason Wessenaar (39) in his Pretoria West home in December 2011; and finally Rulov Senekal in February 2012.

Anyone who knows of any similar cases please contact Shain Germaner at shaing@ewn.co.za.