By Poloko Tau
Did I have to learn in the media that police bosses were sorry that one of theirs pulled a trigger that ended my three-year-old son's life?
This was the question asked by a grief-stricken mother, Mapule Phalane, whose three-year-old son, Atlegang, was shot dead by a police officer who was trying to apprehend a suspect at the weekend.
Phalane said she was saddened and disappointed that no one from the police had personally offered her their condolences since Atlegang's killing on Saturday.
"I am not expecting anything much, but isn't it part of the ubuntu spirit for those who have wronged you to personally come say they're sorry? I am even more disappointed in our (top) police that, like the man who ended my son's life, they have shown no meaningful remorse at what their member has done," she said.
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"It does not matter to me whether someone had ordered police to shoot to kill or not. At the end of the day I am the one who lost a son. I blame the police as a whole just as much as I blame the individual who shot my son."
Phalane said she had gone through an immeasurable amount of emotional suffering and no one appeared to care.
"I was expecting a call of support which would have meant a lot to me."
National Commissioner Bheki Cele's spokeswoman Nonkululeko Mbatha said the police chief had offered his condolences through public statements, but not in the form of a message or a phone call to the family. Cele is not scheduled to visit Atlegang's family.
Meanwhile, Phalane said Atlegang's father, Vusi Mchunu was "mourning his son's death silently".
"I know he is hurting very much, but he has been very quiet since his release from police cells and that says everything.
"He was very close to his son, very close," she said.
"He was his father's best buddy.
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