BY OUR STAFF A team of South African police officers is reportedly in Zimbabwe hunting for an alleged murderer who escaped police custody and then pretended to be employed by a crack crime fighting unit, the Hawks, in an effort to evade arrest.The South African team has also been to Mozambique in their hunt for Musa Khumalo, who is believed to a Zimbabwean national. According to reports from South Africa, Khumalo is wanted for murder committed in Chatsworth in Kwazulu Natal, South Africa. Seeing that the police were hot on his trail, he pretended to be a brigadier with the Hawks and bizarrely helped police solve a string of outstanding crimes. Police now believe that he could have pulled wool over their eyes and helped them arrest his rival gangs. But the South African police have their work cut out for them, as it is believed that the fugitive faked his death in 2010, thereby killing his Zimbabwean identity, only to “resurrect” as Khumalo. South African police spokesman, Colonel Vincent Mdunge, told the South African media that a team of more than 20 officers — comprising the KZN tracking team, the Crime Intelligence Unit, and Hawks from KZN and Gauteng — had been working around the clock following leads. “The team was in Maputo earlier this week. They are now in Zimbabwe,” Mdunge said. “Information has it that Khumalo has returned to his homeland.” But his Zimbabwean counterpart, Andrew Phiri said he was unaware of the visit by South African police. “I have checked with Interpol — their regional offices are here — and there are no indications that the South African police are here,” he said. “Since it’s a murder case they should be working with CID Homicide, but again there is no record of them being here.” Phiri, however, said some provinces had provincial arrangements with neighbouring countries and they could carry out cross border activities, without necessarily having to go through the bureaucratic processes. South African police have since raided Khumalo’s properties in Johannesburg and Kwazulu Natal. He is suspected of committing murder in 2007 and escaping from prison after he had been brought to the courts to answer the murder charge. From there, Khumalo claimed to be a police officer and worked with the police department in Kwazulu Natal, and this gave rise to the charge of impersonation.
