South African sportscaster 'deeply sorry' after posting image of slain colleague Batchelor

Thomas Mlambo, a sportscaster for the South African Broadcasting Corporation, says he is "deeply sorry" after posting an image to Twitter which showed the dead body of ex-footballer Marc Batchelor hours after he was gunned down.

Batchelor, a former player for the Kaizer Chiefs turned television analyst, was slain in his car by two men who escaped by motorbike in Johannesburg at approximately 6pm local time on Monday.

A large-scale police operation is currently underway to find those responsible for the shooting, while several figures within South African sport have spoken of their sorrow after the cold-blooded murder. 

One of these was Thomas Mlambo of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), who reproduced an image on Twitter which showed several bullet holes in Batchelor's car window.

However, when the picture was enlarged it also showed an angle of the dead body still slumped inside the vehicle.

After he was heavily lambasted for the move, Mlambo once again took to Twitter to explain that he didn't know that Batchelor's body was visible in the image.

"I've removed the post about Mark Batchelor," Mlambo wrote. "I was so disturbed by the pic that I only viewed it in preview without opening it completely and only saw holes in the window.

"I had no idea he was in the pic before I posted it. I'm deeply sorry for this."

Mlambo had been fiercely criticized in the wake of posting the offending picture, particularly given that he and Batchelor had been colleagues at the SABC.

Police state that a manhunt is currently underway to identify the suspects and determine a motive for the murder.

They appear to have ruled out robbery as witnesses are understood to have informed authorities that the gunmen made no attempt to seize any possessions from the car's occupants.