POLOKO TAU AND KUTLWANO OLIFANT
A POLICE officer is facing a charge of murder after he allegedly shot dead a Soweto man who told him to “voertsek” as police tried to enter his shack.
This is according to Thamsanqa Radebe’s cousin Mzuvukile, who was with him when he was shot at his shack at Nomzamo informal settlement in Orlando East.
But the police say the shooting happened after an argument between Thamsanqa and Constable Ndivhoneni Malele.
Mzuvukile said yesterday that two police officers arrived at his cousin’s shack at about midnight last Friday.
“The knock was very hard and it irritated Thamsanqa. He asked who it was knocking that late and threw in a ‘voertsek’. They said they were police and ordered us to open,” he said.
“I then said ‘okay, I’m coming to open’, and as soon as I opened the door, I apologised as we did not know they were police. The officer then asked who said ‘voertsek’ and I said it was Thamsanqa, who was still on the bed.”
Mzuvukile alleged the officer then pepper-sprayed Thamsanqa in the face.
“His eyes were obviously burning from the spray when the officer, still standing over him next to the bed, drew a gun and fired a shot. He then rushed outside and made a call for an ambulance,” he said.
“He later went back into the shack, shook Thamsanqa and said to him ‘sorry, my brother, I have hurt you’.”
A while later, paramedics, neighbours and more police officers arrived at the scene. Radebe was taken to hospital and died on Saturday.
Gauteng police said Constable Ndivhoneni Malele, of the Orlando police station, was arrested on Wednesday. He was taken to court the same day, where he was granted R1 000 bail, and was back on duty yesterday.
Police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Lungelo Dlamini said that according to the information they had, Thamsanqa was shot following an argument between him and the officer.
But Mzuvukile insisted that Thamsanqa did not say a word to the officer.
Dlamini said: “The officer has been charged with murder and has already appeared in court, where he was granted R1 000 bail. A letter of suspension has been drawn and will be served (on him) but, as dictated by the internal procedures, he will be given a chance to state his case and say why he should not be suspended.”
The delayed arrest and his release on bail the same day has infuriated Nomzamo residents, who gathered at a local hall yesterday.
“We’re really shocked and upset by the incident. Police should be chasing criminals and not killing innocent people,” said Nosipho Makhatha.