Families of the victims of the Lusikisiki September 28 massacre are relieved that the last suspect has finally been arrested but said there were more questions than answers regarding where he had been.
They said whoever had allegedly been harbouring the suspect should face the wrath of the law.
The families spoke out after a three-month search by police ended on Sunday when the 20-year-old suspect was arrested in Qonce.
The suspect’s name and photo, together with that of three others, was published by police when appealing to the public to assist in solving the mass shooting.
That led to the arrest of three others in KwaZulu-Natal and East London.
The youngest and the last of the eight suspects arrested is expected to appear in the Lusikisiki magistrate’s court facing charges including 19 counts of murder.
He will appear along with the seven others when the trial resumes on February 12.
The other accused includes Mzukisi Ndamase, the alleged mastermind behind the killing.
He is serving life imprisonment for murder.
Others are cop killer parolee Siphosoxolo Myekethe, 45, Aphiwe “AP” Ndende, 25, Lwando Antony Abi, 33, Bonga Hintsa, 31, Zenande Paya, 38, and Mawethu Nomdlembu, 36.
The last suspect narrowly escaped arrest when Ndende and Hintsa were arrested in Port Shepstone, while Abi was apprehended in East London on October 16.
He was eventually arrested in the Qonce bus station in a bus heading to Cape Town, according to police spokesperson Colonel Siphokazi Mawisa.
On Monday, Monwabisi Sinqina — who lost 10 relatives when gunmen opened fire at the neighbouring homesteads of sisters Mary Sinqina and Nancy Sinqina-Mhatu at Ngobozana village in Lusikisiki — said more arrests should be made regarding those who allegedly hid the accused.
“It should not end in his arrest. As the families, we demand that all those who assist in harbouring a wanted dangerous suspect accused of murdering 19 people be arrested ...
“Nobody can claim that [they didn’t know] he was a wanted suspect, his photo and name were on TV, in newspapers and on social media,” Sinqina said.
But the police were mum on how he was arrested, where he was hiding, where the bus was from, and where he boarded the bus.
Sinqina and Lusikisiki massacre committee chair David King applauded the police for arresting eight people within a short space of time.
Sinqina said: “In other brutal murders, there have been no arrests and nobody is accountable for brutal murders.
“Though no arrest and no amount of sentence will ever bring back the 19 lost lives, at least there are arrests and we now know [the suspect] who [allegedly] killed our loved ones.
“We will be able to find closure at some point, but that will take a long time as some homesteads had the whole family wiped out, some losing four family members, and others like mine family losing 10 relatives.”
King said: “The arrest is a big relief.
“We hope the investigating team will find additional information from him which they could not find from the others.
“When he was at large we feared for the lives of the survivors, but since he is now behind bars we are relieved.”
Sinqina and King said the families of the Lusikisiki mass shooting victims had only one key question they all wanted answered.
“Why were our loved ones massacred?”
King said that question would be answered as the trial unfolded.
“This is the reason that the trial should not be heard in any other area except in Lusikisiki so that all families can know why their loved ones were killed.
“This trial must start and be finalised here in Lusikisiki.
“It will be unjust and costly to the families and the community to hear the trial in any other place except Lusikisiki,” King said.
Premier Oscar Mabuyane has praised the police for the arrest of the suspect.
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