Man dies in cops’ taxi raid

A MECHANIC died yesterday in a Port St John’s back street during a police raid.

A number of claims made to the Dispatch by witnesses, a DA councillor and the dead 28-year-old mechanic’s family are under investigation by Independent Police Investigations Directorate (Ipid).

A joint task team set up to quell taxi violence in the Eastern Cape apparently arrived in a cavalcade of 10 vehicles which included police officers, traffic officers and municipal cars from King Sabata Dalindyebo (KSD).

PSJ Taxi Owners Association chairman Vela Fanele said they had quickly removed their taxis from the rank when they got wind that the task team was heading into town.

The dead man’s name is known to the Dispatch but is being withheld at the request of family who are still notifying other family members.

Eastern Cape police and Ipid confirmed that Ipid was investigating the incident.

Several people who witnessed the incident said they saw five heavily armed police officers pile out of a police Toyota Quantum minibus and start firing at will at a group of people in a back street behind Boxer Store in PSJ.

The street was filled with taxis and other vehicles being fixed by “bush” mechanics.

Eastern Cape police spokesman Captain Khaya Tonjeni declined to comment yesterday afternoon, and referred the Dispatch to Ipid.

In the morning yesterday, PSJ police spokeswoman Captain Nozuko Handile confirmed the incident and told the Dispatch that they were still trying to establish where the police officers linked to the death of the man had come from.

Later in the day Handile clammed up and referred questions to Tonjeni, who said Ipid was investigating.

Ipid provincial spokesman Moses Dlamini confirmed that an inquest had been opened into the incident.

“At this stage it is unclear what the cause of the death was as the postmortem will be done next week on Tuesday,” Dlamini said.

“It is alleged that the deceased was underneath a vehicle fixing it when public order police members dispersed people during taxi violence.

“It is alleged that the police discharged stun grenades, one of which rolled to where the deceased was.”

Dlamini said the mechanic had managed to get up and run a few metres before falling and dying.

He said the victim had no visible injuries to his body.

Several people interviewed by the Dispatch yesterday gave a different version of events.

Mzoxolo Ntloya, a close friend of the dead mechanic who witnessed the incident, said they had been busy fixing cars when a convoy of 10 police and traffic vehicles approached from different directions.

A police officer whistled to a minibus travelling along the main route which was full of police officers with “big guns”.

He said the minibus stopped and five officers jumped out, cocked their weapons and started firing at people in the street. “Without warning they just fired shots and we ran in different directions,” he said.

Ntloya ran and hid inside a salon. He was shocked to find out that one of the mechanics was dead.

He said the man had managed to run across the main road towards a swamp on the banks of Umzimvubu River where he collapsed and died.

Another mechanic, Khayalethu Gqaza, said he was working underneath a car when he heard what sounded like gunshots. He took cover deeper under the vehicle.

Ntloya said after that bout of gunfire, the police got back into their vehicles and drove away.

Democratic Alliance PR councillor in PSJ, Derrick Madini, arrived on the scene a few minutes after the shooting.

Madini said police had first gone to the taxi rank in town but when they could not find any taxis there they drove around town and found some being repaired in a back street.

Madini and others flagged down a police car driven by local police officers who assisted with transporting the dead mechanic to hospital.

The councillor accused the government of killing the very same people it purported to protect.

The dead man’s father said they were shocked at how he had died as he had nothing to do with the taxi industry and was just an ordinary mechanic.

His mother described her son as the family’s breadwinner and lamented they did not know who they were going to turn to now that he was gone.

KSD municipal spokesman Sonwabo Mampoza, when asked why their municipal traffic cars had driven 90km to PSJ and ended up accompanying the task team, said the vehicles and officers had been part of a police operation geared towards fighting taxi violence but declined to comment further.

Instead he referred the Dispatch to the police. —