In brief
Wiandre Pretorius, 41, named in South Africa's police corruption inquiry, was found dead from a reported self-inflicted gunshot wound at a petrol station. This incident follows his claims of having survived an assassination attempt and comes in the wake of ongoing investigations into police involvement in organized crime, including the 2022 murder of a witness. Four other individuals related to the case have also died under questionable circumstances.
A South African man named in a major police corruption probe has died after reportedly shooting himself at a petrol station.
Police are now investigating the death of Wiandre Pretorius, 41, who last week said he had survived an assassination attempt.
Pretorius's name had been mentioned at the ongoing corruption inquiry, known as the Madlanga Commission. This was in connection with the 2022 murder of a witness, Emmanuel Mbense, allegedly at the hands of police officers.
Four of the 12 people named as persons of interest in that killing are now dead themselves, a police spokesperson said.
At 22:00 local time (20:00 GMT) on Saturday, the police received reports that a man had taken his own life at a petrol station in Brakpan, east of Johannesburg. At the scene, officers found Pretorius's body with a firearm next to it, spokesperson Brig Athlenda Mathe said.
The police are now looking at CCTV footage to confirm what happened. There had been reports that Pretorius had been involved in a row with his fiancée at the petrol station before taking his own life.
The murder four years ago of Mbense is one of several issues that has come up at the Madlanga Commission, which was set up by President Cyril Ramaphosa after a senior police officer alleged that organized crime groups had infiltrated the government.
Police spokesperson Mathe said on Sunday that Pretorius had been questioned and his firearms confiscated in connection with Van der Merwe's killing. The death of Pretorius on Saturday night leaves only eight of the original 12 persons of interest in the killing of Mbense still alive. Three were killed execution style – one in 2023 and two last year.
Mathe concluded by highlighting that the question is: are we dealing with a syndicate that is eliminating each other in relation to the Emmanuel Mbense murder? That is what our detectives are probing. Last week, police began investigating whether Pretorius himself had been the target of an assassination attempt after he claimed his vehicle had been shot at.
