Johannesburg – The University of Johannesburg student who witnessed the murder of a fellow student on Friday said that the was struggling to study for the exams and now lives in fear after police confiscated all his electronic equipment for “investigation”.
Magnificent Mndebele bore witness and documented the gruesome killing Kelvin Baloyi, who was gunned down by an unidentified security guard at an off campus residence two weeks ago.
Baloyi’s murderer fled the scene soon afterwards and the university, together with the owners of the building, have refused taking responsibility, saying that they did not know the alleged security guard.
Mndebele took photographs of the events leading to Baloyi’s death as well as the bloodied scene in the aftermath, two police officers in plain clothes visited Mndebele’s residence in the wee hours and confiscated his cellphone and laptop without producing a search warrant, and accused him of “tampering with their investigation and inciting violence”.
Mndebele, a second-year journalism student, said his biggest challenge now was preparing for his first exam paper on Saturday.
“I’m writing Applied Journalism on Saturday, and everything I need to prepare is in that laptop since this is a practical subject. I cannot study now because my equipment is with the police who are hellbent on refusing to release it,” Mndebele said.
“The police have treated me like a criminal. They confiscated my equipment without any warrant and demanded that I delete all my pictures. My lawyers have written to the provincial commissioner but still nothing has materialised.”
Johannesburg police spokesperson Colonel Noxolo Kweza failed to respond to ANA’s request for comment.
Mndebele said he now lived in fear as two unidentified people also harassed his girlfriend at UJ Auckland Park campus, and instructed her to tell him to stop his investigation to this matter.
Mndebele said he had been willing to cooperate with police investigation and even testify in court once the suspect was arrested, but the manner in which he had been treated had made him doubt police objectives to investigate the murder.
“I do not even sleep at The Yards anymore. This is too much to bear and comes on top of the trauma of witnessing Baloyi being killed in cold blood,” Mndebele said.
The South African National Editors Forum earlier this week condemned Mndebele’s “harassment” by police.
Also, the South African Communication Association, the professional representative association in the fields of the communication sciences, said it was “deeply concerned about the ongoing intimidation, harassment and abuse of both professional and student journalists”.
African News Agency