Quick action by police netted three suspects, including an initiate (or 'umkhwetha') expected to "return from the bush" this weekend, at a Tantyi tavern on Wednesday.
Quick action by police netted three suspects, including an initiate (or 'umkhwetha') expected to "return from the bush" this weekend, at a Tantyi tavern on Wednesday.
The three men – aged 30, 29 and 28 – were arrested at Push's Tavern, where two of them work as cleaners, after a Tantyi resident become suspicious of a group of eight men filing into the tavern.
Noticing one of the men was armed, and that they were flaunting a substantial amount of cash, the resident called the police. "We responded within 10 minutes," said Matyumza.
In the men's possession, police found R700 in cash (all in R2 coins, in four plastic money bags), an unlicensed 9mm pistol with a loaded magazine, and airtime vouchers worth R80.
Grahamstown SAPS assistant communications officer, Mthuthuzeli Matyumza, said police suspected the pistol might have been stolen from a farm in the Seafield area, on the R72 near Port Alfred, on Tuesday.
"When police officers attempted to arrest one of the suspects, he complained of pain, pointing to where he had been circumcised," said Matyumza.
"We then took him to a toilet, where he revealed to us that he was in fact still an initiate, not yet out of the bush."
Vuyani Kolisi, chairperson of Grahamstown SAPS Community Police Forum, commended the quick response of the police. The three suspects face charges of possession of an unlicenced firearm and ammunition, possession of stolen property, and theft. They were due to appear in the Grahamstown Magistrate's Court today.
