SWAZI ACTIVIST MURDER SUSPECT HELD IN RSA

Suspect arrested in Gabriel Mkhumane’s murderOctober 29, 2008, 17:45
Mpumalanga police have arrested a 35-year-old man suspected of killing Swaziland's main opposition party's former Deputy President, Gabriel Mkhumane. Mkhumane was robbed before he was shot and killed, and his girlfriend repeatedly raped in Kanyamazane outside Nelspruit earlier this year. Mkhumane fiercely campaigned against the Swazi regime and has been in exile for over 20 years before his death.The suspect is a former police reservist attached to the Kanyamazane police station. Police say he was found in possession of some of the deceased’s items. He will face charges of armed robbery, murder and rape. Despite claims by Swaziland's People's United Democratic Movement (Pudemo), implicating that the Swazi regime was responsible for Mkhumane's death, police still maintain his killing was a random act of criminality.Mkhumane started working for the underground structures of the ANC in the late 1970s, before being arrested and detained in Barberton for two years for aiding a banned organisation. He also helped established Pudemo before exiling in Lusaka, Cuba and later South Africa.Meanwhile, Pudemo says the arrest will probably bring closure to Mkhumane's mysterious death. The Party has called for the law to take its course.