The person suspected of strangling and killing reverend Liezel de Jager on 13 October 2021 was traced and arrested by a team from the National Cold Case Investigation Unit under the Command and Control of Brigadier Gininda in the early hours of 23 November 2023 in Bloemfontein, more than two years after her murder. This, according to a credible source close to the investigation. The suspect in custody has been a person of interest since the beginning of the investigation and is intimately known to the family. The suspect will appear in the Durban Magistrate’s court on Monday and be charged with murder.
Action Society learned on 14 November 2023 that a team from the National Cold Case Investigation Unit took over the docket on 6 November 2023 and is working tirelessly to follow up on all leads, obtain new information and compare evidence for a possible breakthrough in the case.
Liezel’s parents, Henk and Salomé van Zyl, mandated Action Society to assist them in August 2022 after almost a year of investigative neglect and indifference to the family’s plea for feedback. Henk and Action Society made nearly 100 calls and sent messages to various officers and authorities between 21 October 2021 and 11 October 2023, but all the attempts continued to fall on deaf ears.
On 31 October 2023, Action Society’s legal team filed court papers against the Minister of Police, Bheki Cele, on Henk’s behalf at the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, seeking a mandamus interdict to compel the South African Police Service to – within 30 days – take all necessary steps to ensure a thorough, unbiased, and expeditions investigation into Liezel’s murder. This includes things you would expect to be part of a standard investigation, such as assigning competent and experienced investigators to the case, reviewing all evidence collected thus far, pursuing all leads and interviewing all potential witnesses.
“We are very grateful to the team of officers who took over the investigation and did what should have been done two years ago in two weeks. We honour members of the police who still take pride in their work,” says Ian Cameron, Director for Community Safety at Action Society.
Action Society will continue to oversee the case until justice is found for Liezel.
