MOPANI – A member of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) shot and killed himself in the crossfire between the police and armed robbers at the Relela Village last Friday afternoon.

According to the police spokesperson in the Mopani Area, Capt Moatshe Ngoepe, six heavily armed robbers arrived at the Tzaneen CPF Payment Services at about 16:00. They were driving in two vehicles, a BMW car and a Nissan bakkie. On arrival at the gate, the robbers told the security guard who was at the gate that they were all members of the SAPS and that they were investigating a case of a cash in transit robbery.

Five of them were in full police uniform. While the others were speaking to the security guard, one of the robbers produced a fire-arm and pointed it at the guard. The guard was then ordered to lead the robbers to the manager's office. On arrival in the manager's office, the robbers stole cash exceeding R1m and drove away in a Nissan bakkie and left their BMW car within the premises.

The Nissan was abandoned about 40km from the scene. That is where, according to the police statement, five more robbers were waiting in two vehicles, a Volkswagen Caravelle and a Mercedes Benz car. They all jumped into the caravelle and drove away in the direction of Relela village, leaving behind the Nissan bakkie and the Mercedes Benz.

On arrival at the Relela village, the robbers hid themselves in the house of a well-known local traditional healer, Mr Albert Maake (65). The police traced the robbers until they reached Mr Maake's home. That is where the gun battle between the police and the robbers started.

During the skirmish, one of the robbers, who was a member of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) shot himself from under the chin. He died instantly. The deceased's identity could not be released, on the basis that the police were still searching for his next of kin.

According to the statement a detective police inspector was shot twice in the head during the crossfire. The other police officer was also shot and injured on the hand. Five alleged robbers, Richard Zwane (32) of Diepkloof, Themba Mhlanga (35) of Dobsonville, Quinton Olifant (32) of Newlands, Thaba Mvelase (34) of Johannesburg and Jeffrey Moremi (33) of White City surrendered to the police. Mlhanga is a taxi driver in Dobsonville. The other five robbers were still at large at the time of going to press.

The stolen money was recovered in full during their arrest. Another cash amount to the value of R50 000, which was not related to the incident, was also recovered during their arrest. The four vehicles being used by the robbers were all confirmed to have been stolen in Gauteng. The alleged robbers, together with Mr Maake, the traditional healer, and his wife appeared in the Tzaneen magistrate's court on Tuesday. They were not asked to plead and the case was postponed to Tuesday, September 16. They are in custody.