The family of the slain Soweto man, Kgomotso Diale, who was fatally shot on Monday says they hope his death will not be in vain. Diale’s family made the appeal to Police Minister Bheki Cele who visited the family in Pimville Soweto to pay his respects earlier today.
Diale was shot and killed during a march to Kliptown by Pimville residents to complain about cable theft and the power outages on Monday.
Diale died on the scene while five other people were wounded and rushed to hospital after gunmen opened fire on them following an altercation.
Police minister Bheki Cele visited the 45-years-old family’s home and another survivor on Wednesday before addressing Pimville residents.
Police Minister Bheki Cele addresses Kliptown and Pimville residents
Investigations
Minister Cele addresses the angry Pimville community just after paying his respects to the family. He promised to work with other government departments to improve services in the area. He also promised to intensify investigations into Diale’s death.
The deceased brother Kagiso Diale says they are stunned by the way he died, particularly for someone who was trying to contribute to the struggle of his community.
“Personally, I was not there but from what I heard is that there was a bit of a stand-off between the perpetrators and they trying to negotiate with them because they were coming in an offensive manner. So, they were saying Kgomotso even say we are not here to fight. He had stopped at some point when things were getting heated to say we are not here to fight. Apparently, that’s after he was struck with a bottle. People started running when bullets were shot and then he just happened to be in the line of fire,” says Kagiso.
In the video below, Police Spokesperson Brigadier Brenda Muridili provides details of the shooting in Pimville:
Meanwhile, residents of Soweto, Eldorado Park and surrounding areas in the south of Johannesburg say they are fed up with increasing incidents of cable theft.
Impact on residents
Pimville community leader Bandile Kalipa says cable theft is negatively impacting residents. Kalipa says many pensioners are running out of money as they are forced to buy gas to heat their homes and cook.
He says some of the elderly use oxygen machines, and the continuous power interruptions are putting their lives in jeopardy.
He has appealed to the police minister to intervene and deploy officers to guard substations.
Eldorado Park residents say they are suffering the same fate and have accused local scrapyards of encouraging cable theft by buying it from criminals.
‘Cable theft a danger’
City Power has raised the alarm about how dangerous cable thieves have become. This follows the murder of two security personnel, who were patrolling cable theft hotspots in Johannesburg earlier this month.
Two armed security officers contracted to City Power were patrolling when they were ambushed by unknown gunmen in Newtown. The security guards were shot and killed.
In a separate incident, armed criminals held up City Power contracted security at gunpoint at the Cydna substation near Melrose, and stole 12 copper cables from the high voltage yard.
City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena says it’s become a complex syndicate and these criminals are heavily armed and dangerous.
Experts say there’s a need for law enforcement agencies to collaborate, especially in countries where stolen cables are sourced from South Africa.
More details in the report below:
-Additional reporting by Pearl Magubane
