Durban - The family of an innocent man killed during a police stakeout, say they cannot get closure until police explain what really happened that day.
The botched robbery and chase in Pinetown last year claimed the lives of two people and left five injured.
One of them, also an innocent bystander, still has bullets in his body that cannot be removed.
The shoot-out occurred on May 14, when police were acting on a tip-off about a planned robbery at a chemical factory, Academy Brushware, in Pinetown’s Westmead, Pinetown.
Police had staked out the factory early that morning. Four men arrived in two cars and a shoot-out between the robbers and the police ensued.
Workers Sifiso Mkhize, 38, and Mxolisi Zikhali, 27, were waiting for the factory to open when shots rang out, wounding them.
Zikhali died in hospital.
The robbers fled with police hot on their tail.
In Pinetown,
Mergan Govender, 24, was dropping his girlfriend, Sherian Naidoo, at work when his car came under fire, apparently by police who mistook it for the getaway vehicle.
Shots were fired and a bullet grazed Naidoo’s head.
She had to undergo emergency surgery to remove a blood clot from her brain.
Three men aged between 34 and 39 were arrested after police shot out a tyre during the car chase.
Three police officers have been charged with attempted murder arising from the wounding of Naidoo.
Zikhali’s mother, Ntombi Mthiyane, 42, said the sight of a policeman made her blood boil.
“The way that he died makes me angry. They are the people who are supposed to protect us,” Mthiyane said.
Her son was the family’s main provider, putting food on the table for five children, including his own 2-year-old son.
Zikhali’s colleague, Mkhize said he was shot in the back and shoulder.
Doctors told him one of the bullets was too close to his spine to be removed
Independent Police Investigative Directorate spokes-man, Moses Dlamini, told the Daily News investigations into the incident were continuing.
Daily News