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Sello “Chicco” Twala has threatened to camp outside Police Minister Fikile Mbalula’s home in a desperate attempt to clear his name. The veteran music producer spent the past week lobbying and pleading with Mbalula to get police to speed up the investigation into the murder of Bafana Bafana captain Senzo Meyiwa. He was shot dead in an alleged house robbery in Vosloorus on October 26 2014.
This followed speculation this week that Twala was hiding the truth about Meyiwa’s death, was protecting his son Longwe and allegedly owned the gun used to kill the football star. Twala denied this and said Mbalula had been ignoring his calls and WhatsApp messages. In a message to Mbalula, Twala writes: “Minister, since you are ignoring me, I will come to camp outside your house until you arrest my son, Kelly Khumalo, and all the people who were present when Senzo was killed. You cannot have six people at the scene of a murder and no one knows who pulled the trigger.”
In other messages to Mbalula, Twala writes: “My son and I have been found guilty in the court of public opinion, even going as far as insinuating that my personal firearm was the murder weapon.
“It’s my plea for a speedy investigation because the false allegations and speculation by irresponsible members of the public placed a lot of strain on my family and unfortunately put them in harm’s way.
“Honourable minister, I am not writing to you to ask for protection, but rather plead with you that we try and get to the bottom of the Senzo Meyiwa case by appointing a dedicated team that will focus on Meyiwa’s murder so that all affected by this tragedy can find some closure.”
In subsequent WhatsApp messages, Twala swears he will “behave like an idiot to clear his name” rather than keep quiet and risk getting killed for something he had not done. Khumalo, who was Meyiwa’s girlfriend at the time of his death, did not respond to questions about Twala’s statements. Longwe also declined to comment.
In an interview with Metro FM on Thursday, he swore that he was innocent of Meyiwa’s murder. Twala told City Press on Friday that he was concerned his son may use drugs again because of the public pressure around Meyiwa’s murder. “When Senzo was killed, he was clean. He had just come back from rehab.” Twala said Longwe told him that although he knew he was innocent, he was willing to go to jail because he had been labelled a murderer in the court of public opinion.
Twala insisted police had cleared his gun after it was taken for ballistic testing. “So why aren’t they communicating the message to the public?” This week, parody Twitter account Man’s Not Barry Roux reignited old allegations that Longwe, who was at Kelly Khumalo’s mother’s house in Spruitview, where Meyiwa was shot, was involved in the killing and that Twala helped cover up his son’s involvement.
The parody account claimed that former Gauteng Hawks head Shadrack Sibiya intervened on Twala’s behalf. On Saturday, Sibiya dismissed the allegations as “fake news” and said neither he nor his officers were investigating the case. “We were called to the crime scene that night, but a decision was taken that the case would be given to the provincial detectives. Within the week it was transferred to the national head of detectives Lieutenant General Vinesh Moonoo,” Sibiya said.
Police ministry spokesperson Vuyo Mhaga said the Meyiwa case was still open and the public must give them space to do their job. “We have to respect that the people who were present when Senzo died are still hurting and have families,” Mhaga said.
In a statement, Mhaga said Mbalula met national police commissioner General Khehla Sitole in Cape Town to receive a progress report on the Meyiwa investigation. Sitole told Mbalula more experienced detectives had been assigned to help the main team with the matter.
