|
July
22, 2005, 14:45
The wife
of Noby Ngombane, the slain Free State government official, and two more
of her relatives have been arrested in Bloemfontein, in the Free State.
Annelie Wrensch, a police spokesperson, has confirmed that Nokwanda was
arrested at her home in Hillsboro, Bloemfontein. It is not clear when they
will appear in court.
The arrests bring to five the number of people who have so far been in
connection with Ngombane's murder. He was shot dead at his house in March
this year. Nokwanda's two other siblings appeared in the local
magistrate's court yesterday. Their case has been postponed to next
Wednesday for a bail application.
Nokwanda caused a stir at her husband's funeral after she insinuated that
Ngombane's killing was politically motivated. This seemed to tie in well
with things that were going on at the provincial government at the moment,
as Ngombane, at the time of his death, had been embroiled in a number of
departmental disagreements.
A KPMG audit report noted a breakdown in the relationship between Ngombane
and Sakhiwo Belot, a previous tourism MEC. This was exposing the
department to financial risk and the report recommended that one or both
of them be replaced. The main reasons for this appeared to be a "lack of
financial delegations". Ngombane told a committee on public spending "we
had a disagreement on my role as department (of tourism) head in terms of
the Public Service Act and his powers as MEC of the department".
Signs of conflict
Last year Marshoff appointed Belot MEC for health. Ngombane was moved to
the Free State premier's office to head the new policy unit, after renewed
signs of conflict between him and the department's new MEC, Benny
Malakoane.
Malakoane had reportedly written to Marshoff stating that Ngombane, his
then-head of department, was undermining his authority. He was also
worried about not being consulted by Ngombane on a decision to suspend
four of the department's five chief directors pending the outcome of an
investigation into financial irregularities. Ngombane was also reported to
have had problems obtaining a National Intelligence Agency security
clearance required for attending certain meetings.
Qondile Kedama, the ANC provincial spokesperson, raised concern that
Nokwanda's utterances had damaged the ANC severely. - Additional reporting
by Sapa
|