Just months before he was shot and killed on his way home from work, University of Fort Hare fleet manager Petrus Roets pleaded for permission to carry a weapon on campus as criminals mounted a violent fightback against a corruption cleanup by vice-chancellor Prof Sakhela Buhlungu.
The Sunday Times is able to lay bare the campaign of murder and intimidation launched to frustrate the cleanup. At least two, possibly three, people have been killed as the university fights entrenched graft.
Anti-corruption experts say the threats and murder unleashed by those opposed to the cleanup campaign are typical of the pushback mounted at state-funded institutions trying to roll back the culture of looting and violence.
Chilling details emerged as five suspects appeared in the Dimbaza magistrate’s court this week on charges of murder, attempted murder, corruption and fraud.
The Sunday Times understands from sources in law enforcement and the university that Roets had in December 2021 made an application to carry his firearm with him on campus as he feared for his life.
The sources said evidence provided by the university showed that Roets had uncovered unauthorised payments of almost R1m from the university’s fleet department to Pastiche Car Services, a vehicle repair shop.
The company is owned by Sicelo Mbulawa, one of the five men who appeared in court this week charged with Roets’s murder. The payments were approved without Roets’s authorisation by Bongani Peter, a former acting fleet manager and Mbulawa’s co-accused.
Prosecutors allege Peter used Mbulawa’s repair shop to fix the university’s vehicles in return for kickbacks. Mbulawa allegedly scored millions of rands through multiple contracts at Fort Hare.
A law enforcement source said: “That is when Roets in March [2022] lodged a complaint with the university to investigate the payments made to Pastiche. The highest amount paid was about R160,000, which was above Peter’s mandate. Roets also raised questions about the appointment of Pastiche and asked for quotations, invoices and statements.”
The first attempt on Roets’ life took place that same month, when a vehicle tried to run him over.
The state alleges that Roets refused to pay Pastiche but Peter wrote his boss an e-mail the next month insisting that he pay Pastiche outstanding invoices amounting to more than R180,000.
The Sunday Times understands that days later, in the first week of May last year, Mbulawa and another of his co-accused, former university driver Wanini “Ta-Ace” Khuza, asked a university employee to show them Roets’s house because they “wanted to discuss outstanding invoices with him”.
Anti-corruption experts say the threats and murder unleashed by those opposed to the cleanup campaign are typical of the pushback mounted at state-funded institutions trying to roll back the culture of looting and violence
Sources with knowledge of the investigation said that on May 3 last year, Mbulawa and Khuza were traced via a cellphone tower to Gonubie, a suburb of East London where Roets lived.
Peter told the court, when applying for bail this week, that Khuza had called him asking for Roets’s home address.
Roets was shot and killed on May 19 by two armed men on the N2 on ramp while driving towards his home.
Sources said six cartridges were recovered at the scene and two bullets were lodged in his body.
“Interestingly, Bongani [Peter] had told Roets on May 17 that he was taking leave from the 20th to attend to personal problems. After Roets’s murder about R220,000 was paid to Pastiche by Bongani even though he was not authorised to do so, and that is why the university suspended him later in the year,” said another source with knowledge of the investigation.
Roets was not the first fleet manager at Fort Hare to be killed: Peter Victor was shot and killed in December 2012 and replaced by Peter, who acted in the position until 2019 when Buhlungu appointed Roets.
It is believed that since 2022, when Buhlungu intensified the fight against corruption at the university, some of those under investigation retaliated by threatening the lives of investigators and their witnesses. Five cases were opened for investigation, including two murders and three attempted murders.
In March 2022, shots were fired at deputy vice-chancellor Prof Renuka Vithal’s house at the staff village in what is believed to have been an attempt at intimidation. The same gun was used to fire shots at Buhlungu’s home the same night.
“There is a positive link that has been made in terms of ballistics regarding the cartridges found at the DVC’s house and those found at Prof Buhlungu’s house from the shots that were fired at his house and that of Vithal on the same night.
“Also, the same VW Polo [used by the suspects] was identified by eyewitnesses in both incidents,” said another source with knowledge of the investigation.
The situation worsened in January this year when Buhlungu’s bodyguard Mboneli Vesele was killed in front of his house in Alice by armed men using a stolen maroon Jeep from KwaZulu-Natal.
The five accused are: Mbulawa, 28, Peter, 51, Khuza, 69, Mthobisi Khanyile, 28, and Mthobisi Zondo, 30. Peter and Khuza are former university employees and Mbulawa is a former student.
Khanyile and Zondo were arrested in KwaZulu-Natal and have been charged with the murders of Roets and Vesele, and the attempted murders of Buhlungu, Vithal and Buhlungu’s office manager Nozuko Mabombo. The two have also been linked to the kidnapping and attempted murder of another unnamed university employee.
Law enforcement sources told the Sunday Times that the two were positively identified through their fingerprints found at the scene of the kidnapping.
Peter, who is also facing fraud and corruption charges, is charged with the murders of Roets and Vesele and the attempted murders of Buhlungu and Mabombo. Mbulawa and Khuza are charged with murdering Roets, as well as fraud and corruption.
In court this week, Peter denied having any involvement in Roets’s murder or receiving any kickbacks from Mbulawa. Formal bail proceedings will be heard on Wednesday.
The university will not be drawn to comment or speculate on the death until authorities have concluded investigations or until more information becomes available to us
— Fort Hare spokesperson
The court appearance of the five accused follows the death last weekend of a second Fort Hare bodyguard in a late-night accident in King Williams Town when his car was hit by a driver who left the scene.
Fort Hare spokesperson JP Roodt said: “While the death occurs in highly unusual circumstances, as the university clamps down on rampant and systemic corruption over several decades, which run politically and criminally deep, the university will not be drawn to comment or speculate on the death until authorities have concluded investigations or until more information becomes available to us.”
Among deals under investigation by police and the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) are contracts for fleet management, maintenance and repair of air conditioning systems, cleaning and gardening services from 2012 to 2019 and the leasing of student accommodation since July 2013. Other unspecified suppliers and service providers are also under investigation.
Police spokesperson Brig Athlenda Mathe said: “A lot of great work in terms of arrest and progress into the case has been achieved by the team that has been deployed to investigate the murders, attempted murder and other serious allegations at Fort Hare University.”
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