MBABANE:Marius 'Vlam' van der Merwe, a Madlanga Commission witness was gunned down in front of his wife and children on Friday night, IOL News reported.
Private security company, Vision Tactical, said van der Merwe was a former EMPD member and owner of QRF Task Team.
National South African Police Service (SAPS) Spokesperson, Brigadier Athlenda Mathe confirmed that police were alerted to a shooting in Brenthurst, in Brakpan, late on Friday.
“Three weeks ago, van der Merwe implicated Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department (EMPD) Brigadier Julius Mkhwanazi in wrongdoing, claiming that Mkhwanazi ordered him to cover up a murder of a suspect at the hands of EMPD and SAPS officers. Van der Merwe's testimony was not on camera.
IOL reported that the ordeal began on April 15, 2022, when security firm boss Kobus Janse van Rensburg repeatedly phoned him about joining a joint operation at the home of a Brakpan robbery suspect. Van der Merwe told the Commission that Mkhwanazi ordered that the deceased suspect’s body be dumped, either in a mineshaft or in a dam. Van der Merwe further added that he complied out of fear, thinking he would be killed. He said he put the suspect’s body in a van and dumped it in a dam in Nigel,” reads the IOL report in part.
Madlanga Commission witness Marius ‘Vlam’ van der Merwe shot dead in front of wife and children (pic: X).