A 29-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the murder of a Northern Cape Democratic Alliance municipal councillor, the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) said on Sunday.
Johannes Baatjies, a Danielskuil ward councillor in the Kgatelopele municipality, was found dead on the main road between Danielskuil and Postmasburg on Wednesday evening. He had been shot twice in the head and once in the torso.
The suspect was arrested on Friday and was expected to appear in the Postmasburg Magistrate’s Court on Monday, Hawks spokesman Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said.
“He is likely to face charges of murder and attempted murder. It has also transpired that he is implicated to other armed robbery cases.”
Preliminary investigation revealed that the 49-year-old Baatjies was “unsuspectingly lured into the death trap”. Baatjies took his business associate with him to assist him through a business meeting arranged at the time of his death. His business associate was still in a critical condition in a local hospital, Mulaudzi said.
National Hawks head Lt-Gen Mthandazo Ntlemeza applauded the Northern Cape Hawks for the swift arrest.
“I am very proud [of] our members who worked around the clock to ensure the arrest [of] the suspect. This arrest is a confirmation of our resolve to ensure that our country’s democracy is not meddled with and those who perpetrate this cowardly acts are brought to book as soon as possible. Our investigations are still continuing and we cannot rest until we find everybody involved,” he said.
Baatjies and another DA councillor‚ and two Kgatelopele Community Forum councillors were reportedly planning to form a coalition to take control of the Kgatelopele municipality from the African National Congress.
Baatjies’s murder was believed to be politically motivated because he had reportedly received death threats after winning the ward from the ANC in the August 3 municipal elections.
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