Cape Town - The death of two policemen, shot dead in an ambush in Bloekombos near Kraaifontein, on February 28, took a bizarre twist when it was revealed that a woman passenger in the police van was also seriously wounded in the incident, a fact kept hidden when police released its initial statement into the incident.
The facts came to light when a charge of attempted murder was added to the two charges of murder against Mxoleleni Sikhala, 32, who was arrested soon after the incident.
When asked about it National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said that there was a woman who was shot while sitting in the police van.
Ntabazalila said the woman was shot in the head and was recuperating in hospital.
Sikhala appeared in the Blue Downs Magistrate’s Court on charges of two counts of murder, attempted murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances (two firearms, 45 rounds of 9mm bullets and a cellphone), on Tuesday. His case was postponed to next Tuesday.
Neither Ntabazalila or Hawks spokesperson Katlego Mogale could shed light on who the woman was, what she was doing in a police van at around 01:45am, and why and how the police and the Hawks missed that there was a woman in the van, because according to them, it was only Mnakwazi Mdoko (46) and Mninawa Breakfast (28) who were killed while on patrol in Bloekombos, Kraaifontein, that Sunday.
Police Minister Bheki Cele's spokesperson, Lirandzu Themba, said that Cele was aware of the injured woman.
Dr Johan Burger, a senior researcher at the Crime and Justice Programme at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), said police standing orders have always very closely prescribed who may or may not travel in a police vehicle.
Burger said there may be two reasons why the woman was in the police van. One was that she may have been a complainant who did not have any other transport.
"Maybe they did not want to put the complainant at the back of the van, like they would with a suspect, so it could be that the police officers decided to have her sit with them in the front of the vehicle," said Burger.
He said they would have been justified doing so if she was a complainant or even perhaps a witness to some criminal offence, and there was no other transport available for her.
He said the other possibility was that they had reasons for having her with them that had nothing to do with police work.
"Maybe it was simply a social reason, and now the police would want to avoid embarrassment of having to admit that the female was in the vehicle with the police officers," he said.
Burger said that another reason that the police would not disclose the presence of the woman could be that she might have provided a link to a police investigation that the police would not at this time want to disclose because it could jeopardise the investigation.
Despite all this, families, friends and police officers are expected to gather at the Kraaifontein police station this morning, to celebrate the memories of the two slain officers.
Cape Argus