An inquest docket has yet to be opened after a pensioner died, reportedly from inhaling pepper spray in Thohoyandou, Limpopo police said on Thursday.
Alpheus Moseri, 68, of Matatadibeng village near Denilton, died on Tuesday afternoon on his way back from the Nelson Mandela memorial lecture presented by President Jacob Zuma in Thohoyandou.
“An inquest docket has not been opened yet as there are no suspicions of wrongdoing up to so far. We will open a docket if information that requires further investigation surfaces,” police spokesman Constable Lethunya Mmuroa said.
Moseri was part of an audience that gathered to listen to Zuma's lecture. Police used pepper spray when a section of the crowd became unruly.
Moseri was travelling back home in a bus later that day when he began coughing. An ambulance was called and he was taken to Tsimanyana hospital, where he died just before 5pm.
“We also await post mortem results that will tell us whether an investigation is necessary or not,” Mmuroa said.
Moseri was a ANC branch executive member in ward six, Ditholong. – Sapa