Hillary Gardee: Lamola confident murder case will be solved

Justice Minister Ronald Lamola has urged people to have a lot more faith in the SAPS and NPA’s ability to concluding the murder case of Hillary Gardee, the daughter of former EFF secretary-general Godrich Gardee.

The 28-year-old woman was found dead outside Mbombela in Mpumalanga on Tuesday, just days after she was reported missing by her family.

Police are still investigating the circumstances surrounding her murder. Gardee is set to be laid to rest on Saturday, 7 May 2022.

JUSTICE MINISTER VISITS GARDEE FAMILY

Ronald Lamola visited the Gardee family on Thursday and called on communities to work together with police and the NPA to ensure that those responsible for her murder face the full might of the law.

“I don’t think as a nation we should just throw our hands in despair that we are losing the fight against violence.  To win the fight is in the hands of all of us as the society, because criminals are born and they live within ourselves. They are known by someone in the community and society. We should work with the police and also the NPA to ensure that the perpetrators of the crime are brought to book.”

Justice Minister Ronald Lamola

Lamola’s utterances come as the Gardee family has expressed lack of confidence in SAPS after learning that she had apparently been shot execution-style before being forced to withdraw R1 300. The family says law enforcement did not pick up on the fact that she had succumbed to gun fire.

“…the police did not conduct thorough investigation of the crime scene and, at this point, it is too late – that crime scene has been contaminated, people were doing walkabouts with the media there when the police on the ground had failed to identify that there was a bullet wound … They have not located cartridges, they do not know what happened in terms of the location there,” said family spokesperson Sinawo Thambo.