The family of 29-year-old Lindani Myeni says the South African government has offered to bring his remains back home. The family had launched an online crowd-funding campaign to raise funds to repatriate his body for burial.
The former rugby player and father of two was shot and killed during an altercation with the police in Hawaii, Western United States, last week.
The campaign has already raised more than R228 000.
US police brutality under spotlight after the shooting of Lindani Myeni:
Myeni’s mother, Sizani Nhleko, says the government is in constant communication with them. Nhleko says her son’s body is yet to be released from the US government mortuary.
“The ambassador from overseas called us and gave their condolences as well as from the President – our President Cyril Ramaphosa. Last night, they spoke with us and they promised that as soon as the body is released from the USA government to their hands, then they will do by all means to bring his body back home. I must say that the government is behind us; we really appreciate their support,” she adds.
Family not convinced Myeni was violent
The video of the altercation between the 29-year-old and the police has been widely shared on social media.
It’s still unclear what sparked the confrontation. However, the Honolulu police claim they were responding to a call on a burglary in progress.
They have denied wrongdoing and allege that Myeni was violent.
The family is not convinced and is demanding answers:
Nhleko says the police only released parts of the video and not the whole video.
“They are releasing the part of the video, they don’t want to release everything. But we don’t know we are still waiting, but waiting and trusting God.”
Myeni’s uncle, Andile Shashu, says Go Fund Me Page funds that they have raised will assist with the investigations.
“The campaign is going to help reach the lawyers and all the investigations since this is not the end and also the campaign we’ve shared in a lot of platforms, like Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp,” he explains.
The family is now waiting for Hawaiian authorities to release the post-mortem results before they decide on further action.
Lindani Myeni’s family still reeling from loss:
