City of Johannesburg MMC for Public Safety Dr Mgcini Tshwaku says they will not rest until justice is served following the brutal murder of a JMPD traffic officer Nombulelo Mthimkhulu. Mthimkhulu was shot and killed allegedly by a member of the South African Police Service (SAPS) in Dobsonville, Soweto last Saturday.
It is alleged that the deceased was trying to defend her son after reckless driving accusation. She was laid to rest at the Nasrec cemetery, south of Johannesburg.
Mthimkhulu, has served as a traffic officer for 17 years. The mother of two was shot from the back three times by a member of SAPS during an altercation at her Dobsonville home in Soweto last weekend.
Nombulelo’s younger brother Mvuzo Mthimkhulu says they are in pain about what happened and want justice.
“No one is coping. We can’t cope, my mother saw her child being shot and killed. My child sister saw her mother being shot. It is a trauma. We can’t cope at all. The whole family is broken and I don’t think we will recover from this.”
Neighbours are equally shocked and traumatised.
“We are deeply hurt as neighbours and nothing can describe what happened that night. Everybody is disturbed as a community in Dobsonville, we need justice for Nombulelo, its hurts all of us, it really hurts JMPD family, everyone it hurts.”
The Johannesburg Metro Police has condemned the tragic death of one of their own. JMPD senior official, Sipho Dlepu was among the mourners.
“We least expected that our dear member could lose their life in the hands of our fellow South African police member. But for now we had two versions of the story. The SAPs as they have theirs. We got the one from the family. We’ll just give IPID an opportunity to complete its investigation then we will take it up from there.”
The city’s Public Safety MMC, Dr Mgcini Tshwaku says they will continue to remember Mthimkhulu for her hard work and dedication.
“We are going to be having a parade on Friday as well, in their honor, so all our officers will be on the streets. There will be too much traffic that you’re not going to go anywhere. So we’re going to have a go slow, everywhere. Up until those officers who killed Nombulelo are taken to book.”
According to the JMPD, Mthimkhulu is the fourth JMPD officer to be killed by the police. The Independent Police Investigative Directorate, IPID is probing.
Slain JMPD officer Nombulelo Mthimkhulu laid to rest:
Reporting by Monique Lewis
