PRETORIA – Police are confident they have arrested the triggerman in the murder of Marius van der Merwe, known as Witness D.
Matipandile Sotheni, a former member of the SAPS’ highly trained Special Task Force, made a brief appearance in the Brakpan Magistrate's Court on Monday.
The case was postponed to 25 March for a bail application.
Sotheni will face six charges, including conspiracy to murder, attempted murder and being in possession of an unlicensed firearm. An additional charge is likely to be added as he was also found in possession of various calibres of ammunition.
The 41-year-old was arrested in Johannesburg at the weekend by a specialised task team probing information from the Madlanga Commission.
Van der Merwe was killed in a hail of bullets in a drive-by shooting on 5 December outside his Brakpan home. Police are still searching for the AK47 used in the murder.
Police believe Sotheni and Wiandre Pretorius, who killed himself in February, were the two occupants of the Suzuki Swift used in Van der Merwe's drive-by shooting.
Pretorius was allegedly the driver, while Sotheni pulled the trigger. The vehicle is said to belong to Sotheni’s girlfriend.
The former cop, who cut a lonely figure as he appeared in court, joined the SAPS in 2005. He trained to become part of the elite Special Task Force in 2010.
Nine years later, in 2019, he resigned and went into the private sector. At the time of his arrest, Sotheni was employed as a bodyguard for a Houghton businessman, police said.
“It is so unfortunate that a highly trained, specialised former member can appear in court on such a serious charge,” said Brigadier Athlenda Mathe, SAPS spokesperson, detailing Sotheni’s alleged involvement in the murder.
“The gunmen who shot Witness D, shot him from the car and that can only be possible if you’ve got a highly trained gunman to do so. Given the background of Sotheni, they knew he would do a clean job because of his training.”
While police investigations are ongoing, Mathe said it is believed Van der Merwe was killed after linking certain individuals to the brutal 2022 murder of Emmanuel Mbense during his testimony before the Madlanga Commission in November.
Mbense was killed in 2022 in Brakpan, and his body was later dumped in a dam.
“Our investigation indicates that by the end of November, these suspects started tailing him [Van der Merwe]. The plan to eliminate him came after he appeared before the Madlanga Commission.”
“Overwhelming evidence places both of them at the scene and it also tells us that the same vehicle used in the murder was tailing Witness D from the end of November up until he was killed.”
Mathe said police were hot on the heels of more suspects in the case.