Security boss faces murder charge in teacher killing case
Bruce Mhlongo, the 52-year-old owner of Njoms Security, has been arrested for the 2022 murder of a primary school teacher who was shot 21 times in KwaPata, Pietermaritzburg.
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THE owner of a well-known Pietermaritzburg security company appeared briefly in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Friday for the murder of a primary school teacher.
Bruce Mhlongo, 52, faces a murder charge for the killing of the then-48-year-old Thabani Innocent Zondi, a teacher at Khethindlelenhle Primary School.
Zondi was shot multiple times while sitting in his car on February 18, 2022, in the provincial capital's KwaPata township.
KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda said officers responding to the scene found Zondi slumped in the driver’s seat with multiple gunshot wounds.
“At least 21 cartridges were found at the scene. The case was later referred to the Provincial Murder and Robbery Unit, which successfully obtained a warrant of arrest for the suspect. The warrant was executed on Thursday,” Netshiunda said.
He added that Mhlongo may also be linked to other serious crimes, including murder, attempted murder, and armed robbery in the Plessislaer and Richmond areas dating back to 2022.
Police have since seized several firearms from Mhlongo’s company, Njoms Security, which will undergo ballistic testing to determine whether they were used in any of the cases under investigation.
Mhlongo's Njoms Security company has a massive following on social media where it regularly posts videos of suspected criminals being interrogated by security personnel in and around Pietermaritzburg.
These suspected criminals are commanded to reveal their full names, where they stay, their associates and their modus operandi.
Most of the suspected criminals confess to their crimes. Last year, in one of the videos, Mhlongo explained why his company takes videos of the suspected criminals claiming that he worked with intelligence agents to do groundwork investigations, but the police would take credit for the cases he had investigated and then claim from crime intelligence, as a success story of someone else who would be paid out.
He also claimed some cases took different directions once they reached the police because, according to him, crime intelligence had collapsed in this country.
Following his arrest some Pietermaritzburg residents on social media expressed fear of the rise in home invasions. Mhlongo will return to court on October 30, to apply for bail. He was remanded in custody.