The murder of Orlando Pirates and national goal keeper Senzo Meyiwa over the weekend is absolutely despicable and has rightly been condemned by all South Africans. The Meyiwa family, his team and the nation have been robbed of a phenomenal talent that had begun to have its impact felt on the international footballing stage.

I join the millions of my compatriots in conveying heart-felt condolences to the Meyiwa and Orlando Pirates families. I wish them strength to face this terrible situation during this difficult period. Like them and many other compatriots, I also look forward to the immediate arrest and prosecution of those responsible for so vile a deed.

Meyiwa was a much-liked footballer who distinguished himself at Orlando Pirates over the years and in the colours of our national football team in recent months, and went on to captain our national team. Without doubt, he was one of the most talented young men playing football on the African continent at the moment and would appear to have been well on his way towards realising his ambition to be among the best goal minders in the world.

At only 27 at the time of this terrible tragedy, Meyiwa must certainly have had an even brighter future ahead of himself not only on the sports fields, but also in life in general. At a time like this, our thoughts and prayers go to his young family, his parents and his siblings, who will continue to feel his gaping absence in their lives long after South Africa will have moved on to deal with other matters.

The decisive action taken by the South African Police Service to improve their chances of speedily apprehending Senzo's murderers is to be welcomed. By offering a reward of R250 000 for information leading to the arrest and successful prosecution of the murderers, the police have considerably improved their chances of making a breakthrough in this matter.

National Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega even moved equally swiftly to announce, at a press conference on Monday, the formation of a special unit to investigate this dastardly murder. In addition, various stakeholders, including the Minister of Sports, the ruling party and the Presidency, also condemned the killing and conveyed condolences to the Meyiwa family.

Also commendable was the speed with which the South African Police Service made arrests a week ago following the stabbing of African National Congress Member of Parliament Jackson Mthembu at an auto-teller machine in Witbank. As I did through a text message last week to Mthembu, I take this opportunity to wish him again a speedy recovery and to welcome the arrest of those who put him in hospital.

It is very encouraging to know that our police are capable of moving swiftly to effect arrests when crimes have taken place and to offer public rewards for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those who terrorise our communities. The speed with which the SAPS moved in response to the terrible criminal incidents mentioned above is a positive development that we would like to see replicated in all similar incidents.

Regrettably, however, my family and I have not seen that level of police professionalism and that sense of urgency when our beloved brother, Elphus Mfana Adonis Motha, was found dead in a veld outside the Pretoria area, with multiple stab wounds, five-and-a-half years ago now. Instead, in every turn we have been confronted with police ineptitude of the worst kind, with the original investigating officer, one Captain De Jongh of the Akasia Police Station, having been too quick to want to close the investigation.

When I objected to that decision, the investigation was then assigned to another police officer, who had to acquaint himself with the facts of the case anew, and it was subsequently handed over to a third investigating offer, Lieutenant MR Sema, a year ago. Almost five-and-a-half years later, no arrests have been made, even though promises to that effect have been made from time to time.

My family and I accept readily that, educated through he was, our beloved brother did not have the kind of public profile in South Africa that Messrs Mthembu and Meyiwa have/had. Instead, he was a humble man who had given two decades of his life to the service of his country as a teacher, a profession in which he rose to become principal of Sinqobile Primary School at Soshanguve. So much did he love education that, over the years, he acquired more degrees and moved on to work first for the National Prosecution Authority and later for Eskom as an Ethics Officer, after he had obtained his Masters in Public Administration from the University of the Witwatersrand.

My family and I would hate to think that the Government of South Africa and its law-enforcement agencies do not treat all victims of crime equally. Although I wrote to President Jacob Zuma, then Police Minister Nkosinathi Mthethwa and then Acting SAPS Commissioner Tim Williams, on behalf of the family, a mere few days after the brutal murder of my beloved brother, there was never any press conference held by the SAPS to call on the public to come forward with information - and there was certainly no reward offered for such information.

Instead, over the past five years I have done everything possible to assist the police in their investigation. I have engaged the services of a private investigator, who amassed a lot of information and passed it on to the police, but still no arrests have been made.

I have spoken to both General Phiyega and her predecessor, Bheki Cele, in their capacities as SAPS Commissioner during their respective tenures, and yet we continue to wait for news of the arrests of the architects of the murder of our beloved brother, Adonis. This cannot be right. Indeed, it is so egregiously wrong that we, as a family, have vowed never to accept this situation.

Adonis was no less a citizen of this country and no ess a taxpayer than any other victim of crime, and he deserves much, much better from those towards whose salaries he contributed through his taxes. As a family, we, too, are no less citizens of this country and deserve much, much better from those towards whose salaries we contribute through taxes.

The information amassed by my private investigators remains available to the police, and it is now captured in my book, Incomplete Without My Brother, Adonis, which will be launched in Johannesburg on Saturday. As a family, we remain available to assist the police in their investigation and look forward to that day when they will tell us that arrests have been made.

As we commiserate with the Meyiwa family and wish Mthembu a speedy recovery, we would find it totally unacceptable that the country's law-enforcement agencies would treat citizens differently, depending on their respective public profiles. And so we ask, General Phiyega and your team: please find the killers of our beloved brother, Adonis, as soon as possible, and offer public rewards if that will help you to achieve that goal as soon as possible.

Given our unhappiness with the manner in which Adonis's murder has been treated by the police so far, this week I will lay a complaint against the police with the Public Protector and the Independent Complaints Directorate.

Kaizer Nyatsumba is a senior business executive in Johannesburg. His book, Incomplete Without My Brother, Adonis, will be launched in Johannesburg on Saturday.

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