Pretoria - Professor Stanley Mukhola, deputy vice-chancellor at the Tshwane University of Technology said breaking the news to Katlego Monareng’s parents about his death was the most difficult thing he has done. He was addressing the media about the incident.
Monareng‚ a third level LLB student lost his life allegedly at the hands of the police.
He was a member of the Pan Africanist Student Movement of Azania and was fatally wounded on Thursday night amid allegations of vote rigging during the TUT SRC elections.
Mukhola said a lot of questions clouded his mind when he drove all the way to Bushbuckridge to Monareng’s parents.
“Where do I start how do I explain what happen to their beloved child,” he said. He was accompanied by therapists.
“This was in case he got overwhelmed and needed assistance,” he said.
And just as they guessed the family was taken aback and shocked at the news. The family was also driven down to Pretoria on Sunday, to identify the body and visit the scene were Monareng lost his life.
"It was an overly emotional process that I would not wish on any parent,” said Makhola.
A memorial service will be held on Thursday at the Soshanguve North campus, and his funeral will be in Bushbuckridge on Saturday.
During SRC elections, a scuffle broke out after one of the presiding officers overseeing the elections allegedly was caught trying to steal a box containing used ballot papers. Students wanted to assault him but the security guards intervened and took him to the control room. Later police were called to intervene.
Students accused police of using live ammunition and killing the student.
“The police reported that they fired at the ground with R5 rifles and that when they left no one was injured but police vehicles were damaged‚” said Ipid spokesperson Moses Dlamini.
“The police claimed that they were later informed that a student had been shot and injured. The student died in an ambulance en route to hospital on the R80 road‚” said Dlamini.
Ipid has since seized the firearms of the officers who were at the scene.
The postmortem will be held on August 24 at Ga-Rankuwa mortuary. The docket will be collected today for further investigation‚” Dlamini said.
Other investigations into the incident are still underway.