Johannesburg - “Don’t you know that a Shangaan (Mozambican) does not come out alive from Daveyton police station cells?
This is the question a neighbour had asked Justice Malati’s wife Linah Khoza, moments after the 36-year-old man was confirmed dead in the police station cells on Monday.
The neighbour, Poti Bheziya, had accompanied Khoza to Daveyton police station after Malati’s arrest on Monday.
Relatives believe Malati was beaten up while in custody but the police version differs from theirs.
Gauteng police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Lungelo Dlamini said the police received information that Malati allegedly banged his head against the wall of the cell before he went to sleep on Sunday night.
“Police in Daveyton are investigating an inquest docket following the death of a Mozambican national in police cells yesterday morning. His body was discovered when police visited the cells and his cause of death is unknown at this stage,” Dlamini said.
He said Malati was arrested for being drunk in public in Etwatwa near Daveyton, Ekurhuleni. Police said he was certified dead in the cells and they did not suspect foul play.
But the deceased’s family and friends believe he was murdered in the cells like fellow Mozambican Josias Mido Macia, who was killed on February 26, 2013.
Macia was a taxi driver who was killed in police custody. He was dragged by a police vehicle in Daveyton.
One of the witnesses filmed the assault. Police said Macia had caused a traffic jam and then resisted arrest.
Bheziya said the police version was inconsistent with the injuries he witnessed on Malati.
“His neck and face were swollen. He also had blood on the back of his head but there were no blood splatters on the wall of the cell. It was only a small spot of blood which had already dried up,” she said.
She said the injuries looked like those of a person who was beaten up.
“One of the young people who were with him in the cells, told us that Justice banged his head on the wall and then decided to sleep. The boy said he tried to speak to him but he did not respond,” Bheziya said.
Khoza recounted the last moment she saw her husband alive.
On Sunday the two had argued about Malati’s drinking spree on Saturday after she fetched him from the shebeen.
Malati then allegedly became aggressive and the community tried to intervene.
Residents then called the police, who arrived and placed him in their van.
Khoza said her husband had resisted arrest and demanded to know the reason for it.
But “police handcuffed him and put him in a police van”.
Later, a friend went to visit him at Etwatwa police station but was told he had been transferred to Daveyton.
Khoza and Bheziya painted a picture of meeting a group of inhumane police officers when they arrived at Daveyton.
They accused one of the detectives from Etwatwa of having laughed at them when they asked about Malati’s whereabouts.
On Tuesday, the family were adamant he was killed by police – just like Macia had been.
“Yes. It was for that reason I asked his wife whether she was aware that Shangaans do not come out alive at Daveyton police station,” Bheziya said.
The Star