President Cyril Ramaphosa has demanded an uncompromising investigation into the murder of whistle-blower Marius van der Merwe, warning that the killing threatens efforts to uncover corruption in the security cluster. President Cyril Ramaphosa has doubled down on his remarks over the murder of Marius van der Merwe, known as Witness D, describing the killing as “heinous” and insisting investigators uncover exactly what happened. “The killing of Witness D, Mr Van der Merwe as we have now come to know, is terribly, terribly unacceptable,” Ramaphosa said on Saturday on the sidelines of COSATU’s 40th anniversary event in Dobsonville, Soweto.
“We are devastated by his killing, and I’ve said to the minister they must make sure that the investigation is thorough.” “They must leave no stone unturned until we find the perpetrators of this heinous crime,” he added. Ramaphosa, who was at the event in his capacity as ANC president warned that the killing of witnesses who expose wrongdoing within the security cluster threatens to deter others from coming forward. “It’s not acceptable that witnesses who are unravelling things and revealing the rot that has been prevalent in our security cluster are now, as they tell the truth, getting killed themselves,” he said.
