A male suspect wanted for the murder of Deputy Chairperson Lulama ‘Guffy’ Dinginto of the Gugulethu Community Policing Forum (CPF) was arrested on Sunday, in an Eastern Cape town nearly 700 kilometres from where the crime took place.
The 56-year-old anti-crime activist was shot five times in the face and head and killed in her home in Gugulethu during the early hours of Sunday Morning, 10 December.
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The South African Police Service (SAPS) last week identified 35-year-old Lungile Madolo, also known as Fire, as a person of interest in the case and offered a R50 000 reward for information that would lead to his arrest.
Daily Maverick reported that Madol is reportedly sentenced to seven years in prison for another crime in 2018 and, according to Police Minister Bheki Cele, he had other cases pending against him.
Police spokesperson Captain Marius McCarthy said that EC police allegedly received intelligence that the suspect, who had fled to Gqeberha, was on a bus heading towards Graaff-Reinet.
After waiting for the bus to enter the town at about 9pm, Graaff-Reinet Operational Command Centre members identified the man when searching the bus.
The suspect was arrested before in the local magistrates’ court on a warrant of arrest.
The man has since been transferred to Cape Town where he is expected to appear in the Athlone Magistrates’ Court on Friday for Dinginto’s murder.
Dinginto’s funeral was attended by Cele who described her as an ally in the fight against crime, Western Cape Police Oversight Minister Reagan Allen and Western Cape SAPS Commissioner Thembisile Patekile.
She was laid to rest at the Gugulethu Sports Complex on Reconciliation Day.
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Picture: Pinelands CPF / Facebook