Cape Town - A 34-year-old man alleged to be behind a mass shooting in the Eastern Cape in February was tracked and traced to Soweto in Gauteng.
The suspect has been on the run after the mass killings in Qunu on February 1.
According to the Eastern Cape police spokesperson, Brigadier Tembinkosi Kinana, the fugitive was caught by the police’s Serious and Violent Crimes Unit (SVC) in Bityi.
On the day of the shooting, seven people were gunned down by unidentified suspects in a small mud flat in Qunu Village. The dead included four men and three women.
The Provincial Police Commissioner, Lieutenant-General Nomthetheleli Mene, visited the crime scene and ordered a multi-disciplinary team of investigators to track down the killers wherever they might have escaped and hidden.
“During the investigation process and on March 10, 2023, the team of investigators received information that led them to Gauteng province and in particular, Orlando East in Soweto. This is where the suspect was believed to be hiding.
“Subsequently, the integrated team, which included Gauteng Serious and Violent Crimes, arrested the 34-year-old suspect, Sanele Tshisilanga, who is popularly known as ‘Litye’, hiding in a girlfriend’s flat in Soweto.
“The firearm which is believed to have been used in the commission of the murders was also recovered during the investigation,” Kinana said.
The Eastern Cape Police Commissioner as well as management of the SAPS expressed their gratitude to members for spending sleepless nights tracking the suspect and meticulously analysing every piece of information they received, to ensure the perpetrator/s were found.
“The criminals involved in these killings should by now learn their strong lessons, that with our police officers, there is no running away and there is no permanent hiding place.
“Even those who are under the false impression that when they cross the borders, they will not be found, they must think again. I want to say it again, that the Eastern Cape province has no place for murderers. We shall continue to find them alive, to answer for their deadly actions,” Mene said.
The suspect is expected to appear in the Mthatha Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday this week where he will be charged with seven counts of murder.
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