They haven’t been getting any updates from the cops since the ruthless slaying of the man.
The family of the late young businessman Mabuya Manana from Mbombela who was gunned down in broad daylight in Witbank’s CBD last year has decried the slow pace of cops in bringing about justice in the murder case.
The family says there hasn’t been any investigative progress in the assassination of the KaNyamazane multi-millionaire – whether it be detectives giving them updates or showing any keen interest in following up on information being brought to them.
The case of the 37-year-old Mpumalanga tenderpreneur is one of many unresolved cases in Mpumalanga involving the mysterious killing of government officials and politically connected businessmen. The suspect in Manana’s murder on 8 March 2019 handed himself over to the cops immediately after the shooting and was released 3 days later by the eMalahleni Magistrates Court “due to lack of sufficient evidence”.
The suspect was identified as 33-year-old Thabani Myeni and had been driving a white Toyota tazz on Manana’s fateful Friday afternoon of 8 March 2019 on the corner of Arras and Beaty Avenues, Down Town eMalahleni.
Mabuya drove in his customized white Audi TTS Quattro. He was killed during what was believed to be a road rage incident when a hail of bullets pierced through his body, allegedly fired at him by Myeni.
The cops picked up over 16 bullet shells from the scene…
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One of Mabuya’s family members said they are not at all satisfied. The member said most of the bullets pierced Manana through his back, indicating he was running away from his killer.
“We tried to brief the investigator on what we thought was the reason for killing him based on the information that we have but the detective never showed any interest on what we were telling him as a family and the people that we believe are behind this whole thing,” the family member said when they spoke to the 013NEWS reporter.
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Mabuya, or ‘MJ’, as he was affectionately known, was shot multiple times, including one bullet wound on his lower shoulder that sources say showed his killer continued to shoot him even after he was facing down and struggling on the ground from the hail of bullets.
Manana, a politically connected young man, was a tenderprenuer in the Mpumalanga province and traded through a company called ‘Lima Liqhame Investments’, getting a number of quite greener contracts with municipalities.
His job was to collect rates on behalf of the municipalities and take a commission of between 20% to 25%, meaning when he collected R100 million from households and ratepayers, he would get between R20 million to R25 million.
He did most of his work with municipalities in Gert Sibande, particularly Msukaligwa in Ermelo and Dipaleseng in Balfour, Mkhondo in Piet Retief as well as Gert Sibande district municipality.
On the fateful day of Friday 8 March 2019, Manana was coming from the Nkangala district municipality in Middleburg – where he had presented his business idea to officials of all six municipalities that fall under the district.
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Mabuya had, as a debt collector, wanted to assist the various municipalities falling under the district municipality, particularly the debt-ridden eMalahleni local municipality, collect its rates and recover what is owed to it by residents.
After the meeting at the Nkangala district municipality on that unfortunate Friday the multi-millionaire, originally from KaNyamazane in the Mbombela area, drove to the Fortis Hotel in Down Town eMalahleni, where he ordered food for himself and the man he was with who was his driver.
After that meal the 37-year-old Manana left the hotel with his man, only to be gunned down just 700 meters away from the hotel.
He was killed on corner of Arras and Beaty Avenue during a reported shootout, allegedly as a result of “road rage”. The Fortis Hotel is also situated on Beaty Avenue.
The police said they were busy investigating and would bring their suspect to court once investigations have concluded.
(edited by MLM)
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