Cape Town – The Office of the Chief Whip of the African National Congress (ANC) in the Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature has reportedly suspended Philemon Lukhele, who is one of the accused in the Hillary Gardee murder case.
Lukhele, was arrested along with two other suspects – Sipho Mkhatshwa and Albert Gama.
The trio appeared in the Mbombela Magistrate’s Court on Monday. They all abandoned their bail application.
They were charged with murder, rape, conspiracy to commit murder, kidnapping, and possession of an illegal firearm.
According to eNCA, Lukhele worked as a researcher in the office of the Chief Whip.
“As an office of the Chief Whip, we regard these charges as very serious, hence we have decided to suspend him with immediate effect and this suspension is a suspension without pay.
“He is expected during the time of the suspension not to visit the office, not interact with the employees and also to surrender all working tools that are in fact given to him. He agreed with me that these charges are very serious, these charges have the office of the Chief Whip in disrepute,” SABC quoted ANC’s Mpumalanga legislature chief whip, Vincent Mlombo as saying.
Hillary went missing on April 29 after a shopping trip to a Spar near her home in Mbombela, Mpumalanga.
She was found dead in a field outside Mbombela, Mpumalanga on May 3 with a gun wound on her head.
Hillary was laid to rest on Saturday.
The case was rescheduled to June 9.
Follow African Insider on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
Picture: Twitter/ @collensedibe
For more African news, visit Africaninsider.com
Compiled by Sinothando Siyolo
