Prominent chief of a tribe in Bushbuckridge, Clyde Mnisi, was viciously murdered on the evening of Sunday, 26 March 2023, in what authorities suspect was a planned assassination.
Clyde Mnisi: Feared ‘rhino horn’ kingpin killed in coordinated ambush
As reported by Times Live, the 37-year-old alleged kingpin, who was anointed as chief of the Mnisi tribe in October 2022, was travelling with his driver near Kruger Mpumalanga International (KMI) airport, on Sunday night, when five heavily armed men ambushed them.
In a statement, Mpumalanga police spokesperson Brigadier Selvy Mohlala explained that a BMW X5 pulled up to the chief’s Avanza, which was forced to a halt due to a tyre puncture, “then alighted from the vehicle with high-calibre rifles and went straight to the passenger side where the chief was sitting.”
Based on evidence collected from the gory crime scene, it’s believed Chief Mnisi was the specific target of the alleged murder plot since his driver escaped the hail of gunfire with non-life-threatening wounds to his legs.
A full-scale investigation is underway to track down the suspects and, according to Mpulamanga police commissioner Major-General Zeph Mkhwanazi, authorities have centralised resources to fast-track the case.
“The team of investigators are working around the clock to ensure the perpetrators are swiftly brought to book,” Mkhwanazi said.
Clyde Mnisi was a prime suspect in a case against a notorious syndicate believed to be active in a “massive trafficking network of poached rhino horn”.
According to anti-poaching group ENACT, Mnisi, along with six other suspects, including now-deceased Hazyview crime boss Petros Sydney Mabuza, commonly referred to by his clan name, Mshengu, and notorious ex-cop ‘Big Joe’ Nyalunga, were at the helm of a sophisticated network of organised crime groups involved in theft, conspiracy to commit a crime, illegal buying and selling of rhino horns, corruption, money laundering and racketeering in the western boundary of the Kruger region.
“The syndicate is alleged to have exerted influence over a swathe of territory along the Kruger western boundary. It stretched from Belfast and Cork to the east of Sabi Sands Game Reserve, down to Calcutta, Mkhuhlu, the Shabalala tribal trust area and Hazyview, where Nyalunga and Mabuza had homes a few kilometres apart,” ENACT revealed in an explosive investigative report published in February 2023.
As reported by Sunday Times, Mnisi was due to appear in court for a long list of serious charges in April 2023.