Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Dumped: Chasing killers
In part three of our series, chief reporter Norman Cloete speaks to a retired detective who worked the crime scenes in an attempt to learn more about the crime and to ultimately track down the killers
“WHEN I became a detective in 1979, a sergeant came up to me and said ‘now your problems start’,” said Jonathan Morris, a retired SAPS captain.
Morris spent 39 years of his life hunting down suspects and chasing Cape Town’s killers. He started his SAPS career at the tender age of 19 in 1977 and remembers a time when housebreaking was the crime of the day. Fast-forward to present day, and Morris, despite having seen it all, is still shocked by how “cruel” people can be.
As a young detective, Morris was instrumental in the arrest of a man accused of raping two girls but murder and mayhem would soon follow.
“In those days we did mostly foot patrols and the only way of communication was with the use of a walkie-talkie. It so happened I was driving with a colleague when we were informed about a suspect. Lo and behold, we saw a man, fitting the description of the suspect, asking for a lift and that’s how we picked him up,” he said. However, his first brush with death came during his involvement in the “Jesus killer” case.
Jimmy Maketta was found guilty of 47 counts including rape and murder in the greater Philippi area in 2007.
“Jimmy raped several women in Philippi East and often killed their boyfriends/husbands. He dumped their bodies into the dam in the area.
“We had a task team of 13 detectives working on that particular case. Maketta would often enter the homes of unsuspecting couples through the roof. What set him apart was the calm manner in which he operated. He never panicked and was never afraid. He also didn’t like his bodies to remain undiscovered for long periods of time, hence the tip-offs to police,” he said.
Morris recalled that Maketta would often call the police to tip them off about where he dumped bodies and was prone to get upset when his kills did not make the headlines.
Morris was also involved in the Sizzlers massacre which took place in Sea Point on January 20, 2003, when Adam Woest and Trevor Basil murdered nine people and injured one person. He was a detective during the taxi wars of the 1990s and was behind the arrest of Asanda Baninzi who received infamy as South Africa’s most “prolific” serial killer.
Baninzi, who lived in Gugulethu, also operated in Philippi East and surrounds and claimed 18 lives between June and August 2001. Thanks to Morris and his team, Baninzi was convicted of 14 murders, four rapes and two armed robberies. In addition to 19 life sentences, he was sentenced to 189 years’ imprisonment.
Looking back at how crime scene investigation advanced over the years,
Morris recalled how suspects would be taken to a doctor for sperm extraction in rape cases.
“There was no DNA testing in 1979 like we have now. Even in our group of detectives, there was just one person with a cellphone but the modern advancements have helped police officers in apprehending suspects.”
Morris recalls a time when while working a crime scene, officers would often have to dodge bullets, and while communities were less hostile back then, getting people to talk was and remains a challenge for the police.
“Despite the many murders and the highs and lows of my career, there is no greater feeling than when you catch a suspect. That is a feeling that money can’t buy,” said Morris.
While far away from the blood on the streets, Morris still keeps a close eye on the cases that make the headlines.
These days, he spends his time taking walks on the beaches of Gordon’s Bay, far away from the sirens and gunfire that was his life for 39 years.