Cape Town - Six weeks after police allegedly shot dead innocent restaurant workers, provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General Khombinkosi Jula has spoken out for the first time about the incident and two others that followed.
On February 24, Phumeza Fudumele, a mother of two, was shot dead and a fellow Nando’s employee was wounded when police allegedly opened fire on the taxi in which they were travelling home.
Less than a month later, police again allegedly opened fire on a taxi, killing two McDonald’s staff in Kuils River.
A third alleged shooting by police, this time on a taxi transporting workers from Paarl, was reported – although no one was injured in this case.
Jula said he wanted to offer his condolences to the families of the innocent people who were killed.
He said investigations into the incidents would determine “whether these shootings should or should not have happened”.
Jula said the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) was overseeing the probes.
Jula said all shootings by police, both on and off duty, were investigated.
He said Ipid would inform the public of the outcomes of the investigations in due course.
“All that I want to say in this regard is that we are engaged in ongoing efforts to remind our members of the circumstances under which they can apply section 49 of the Criminal Procedure Act, in the use of force and the use of firearms.
“We are doing that on an ongoing basis to all our members, not because we want to believe that they have shot when it was not justifiable for them to use their firearms. But we are saying that that investigation must take its own course and it will be determined whether these shootings should or should not have happened.”
In the Nando’s shooting incident, police allegedly opened fire on a staff transport believing the vehicle had been involved in an ATM robbery earlier that day.
The Kuils River shooting was another case of mistaken identity, in which a staff taxi was allegedly fired upon by police who believed the vehicle was being driven by armed robbers who had earlier shot at police.
The McDonald’s staff taxi was riddled with at least 50 bullet holes.
At the time, the driver of the taxi said he believed they were being hijacked and was trying to drive to the closest police station.
He was forced to stop after his vehicle’s tyres were shot out, he said.
Cape Argus