Officers at the Soshanguve Police Station, North of Pretoria, are in hot water yet again. They are accused of killing a 30 year old man who was allegedly selling pirated CDs at an intersection near the police station.
Eyewitnesses allege a group of police officers pounced on the street vendors and managed to apprehend the deceased before fatally assaulting him.
Community members went on a rampage, burning and vandalising the guard house in the premises of the police station.
Two constables at the same station are facing murder and attempted murder charges after a Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) student was shot dead during protests over Student Representative Council elections in August.
Police Spokesperson Brigadier Vishnu Naidoo says an inquest has been opened. “They were trying to effect an arrest and as a result one man subsequently died, a 30 year old man subsequently died. The circumstances and the cause of the man’s death is unknown at this stage and therefore we are investigating an inquest to precisely determine the circumstance and the cause of a person’s death.”
Meanwhile, some members of the community say they no longer feel safe and are calling for the police station to be shut down. There were two eyewitnesses who say they saw the police officers attacking the deceased and now want justice to prevail.
“For the community to strike, an innocent man was killed, was he killed because he was doing anything wrong? No. He was killed because he was selling cds. I don’t understand,” says one of the community members.
Another resident says;” Justice must be served, what they did was horrific. Protect us, please I’m begging you. Treat us like people, just because we smoke doesn’t mean we aren’t people.”
#sapsGP Members of the community threw petrol bombs at #SAPS Soshanguve station after an altercation with #SAPS members which angered them. A case of public violence and an inquest docker are opened for further investigation. SWhttps://t.co/GgLNi4NA4b pic.twitter.com/mKNF6OnEEJ
— SA Police Service 🇿🇦 (@SAPoliceService) November 2, 2018
