Lazarus Matla

Lazarus Matla (1961 - 2010)

Brief overview:

Lazarus (49), a security guard from security company ADT who responded to a home alarm was believed to have been handcuffed on Monday morning before being shot dead in an execution. It is suspected that security officer Mr Lazarus Matla (49) caught an unknown number of house invaders on a Boltonwold smallholding when he went to investigate. The alarm went off at 22h31.

Theuns Erasmus (29) son of Jurie Erasmus (56), owner of the holding just outside Meyerton where Matla was shot, later found his body. Matla is the father of a 13-year-old twins. According to Erasmus Sr. he called his son, who lives nearby, shortly after the security company informed him the house alarm was activated.

Erasmus Sr., his wife, Elize (52), and their son, Werner (24) who all live in the holding house, were at work at the time of the incident. “Theuns and Mr. Bertus van Vuuren, his father-in-law, went to our holding to look at what was going on and found the security guard behind one of the outbuildings,” said Erasmus Sr. said. Matla, with his bulletproof jacket still on, lay on his stomach. His hands were bound behind his back and he was shot twice in the forehead.

His ADT vehicle was abandoned behind the holding house with open doors. "Matla's firearm was missing and police are investigating the possibility of being shot dead with his own weapon," Capt. Police spokesman Shado Ma-shobane said. "Obviously, it is not known if the killer(s) was armed beforehand," he said. "It is also not known how many suspects we are looking for and no one has been arrested in connection with the incident." According to Mashobane, the culprit(s) failed to break into the holding house.

Mr. Roy Rawlins, MD of ADT Johannesburg, said on Monday afternoon he was shocked. "Our response officers put themselves in the firing line every day, but it is shocking to receive such news," he said. “Our condolences go out to the friends and family of Response Officer Matla. He has been a member of the ADT family since 2006 and was popular and well-known in the area.” According to Rawlins, Matla's death is a huge loss to the company.

Brief Biography:

• Other Victims/Family
• Funeral/Memorial
• The Farm/Smallholding
• The Region (Land disputes, other incidents etc.)

Attack Details:

• Date and time of attack
• Weapons
• Items Stolen
• Investigative officer/SAPS Case No:
• Torture, Gratuitous violence
• Indications of Hate Crime? Threats etc.

Perpetrator details:

• Number and Descriptions
• Arrests
• Name/s and age/s of Perpetrator/s
• Country of origin of Perpetrator/s
• Trial/Conviction

Additional Biographical Information:

Links to Media articles:

• https://web.archive.org/web/20100716184932/http://www.beeld.com/Sui...