Most wanted suspects in custody

Only two months ago, Limpopo provincial police commissioner Lt Gen Fannie Masemola, during his visit to the Thohoyandou area, promised to leave no stone unturned in the search for wanted criminals.

True to his word, in what could be regarded as a major breakthrough by the police in the area, different units of the police, including the Provincial Crime Intelligence Trio Task Team, Thohoyandou Crime Intelligence, and Thohoyandou Cluster detectives managed to arrest two of the most wanted criminals in the area.

The police, led by Maj Gen Kgalani Meetsi, arrested the two ruthless and dangerous suspects, who have been blamed for terrorising communities in the greater Thohoyandou area, last Friday.

According to the police, the two, a South African and a Zimbabwean, have already been linked to more than 20 cases of house robbery, rape, murder, attempted murder, carjacking and housebreaking. The suspects, Nyandano Mudalahothe (24) and Peter Zimutha Tshibantsi (26), appeared in the Thohoyandou Magistrate's Court and their case was postponed to Thursday (yesterday) for further investigations and a bail application.

The Thohoyandou area has in recent times experienced a high number of trio crimes (carjacking, house and business robbery) and other violent crimes. The arrest of the trio has been hailed as a blow to criminal syndicates that will, in the long run, lead to a peaceful, safe and secure policing precinct in the area.

According to Limpopo police spokesperson Col Ronel Otto, the suspects are already linked to an incident of house robbery and rape where they broke into a house and severely attacked a husband and wife with sharp objects in front of their daughters, aged 13 and 9. They both then allegedly raped the 13-year-old girl in front of her parents.

Otto commended the team and indicated that it had worked hard to make the significant breakthrough. “The team will work tirelessly to ensure that Thohoyandou is ridden of all criminal elements threatening the safety of the people of Limpopo. Investigations to link the arrested suspects to even more crimes in other areas of the province are ongoing,” she said.

Gen Masemola congratulated the team on the breakthrough and praised them for their "dedication, perseverance and sterling work that led to the arrest of the two. We are going to intensify our efforts in the fight against crime and all wanted criminals and suspects will be behind bars before the start of the festive season”.

After hearing of the breakthrough, Vhavenda King Toni Mphephu Ramabulana added his voice to those praising the good work done by the police."We commend them for the speedy arrest of the perpetrators of these violent crimes and we further urge communities to continue maintaining a good working relationship with the police by giving them the information they need for cases. We will uproot the crime that is crippling our communities," he said.

Date:26 October 2015

By: Elmon Tshikhudo

Elmon Tshikhudo started off as a photographer. He developed an interest in writing and started submitting articles to local as well as national publications. He became part of the Limpopo Mirror family in 2005 and was a permanent part of the news team until 2019.

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