Fury over shooting of youth in protest
Distraught family blames cops for death, but police say only rubber bullets fired
THE police or opportunistic gang members? Who shot Ronaldo Heneke, 18, during the violence that gripped the northern areas yesterday? Heneke, of Ibex Street in Helenvale, was shot in the neck and died shortly after 11am at Livingstone Hospital.
While the teenager’s traumatised family blames the police, accusing them of firing live ammunition during the protests, the police say they only fired rubber bullets and that gangs in the area took advantage of the chaos to shoot at them.
The shooting of Heneke, which has been referred to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) for investigation, occurred as at least 12 roads were blocked by burning tyres, rocks and even a mattress, and protesters pelted vehicles with stones.
Stanford Road was blocked all the way from Gail Road down to Third Avenue.
“I am disappointed in the police. They are meant to protect us and not shoot us. Ronaldo was not armed,” Heneke’s sister, Bianca, 33, said.
“He was not into gangs. He was a good person.
“He went with friends to see what was happening.
“He was not involved [in the protests].”
She described Ronaldo as friendly and lovely, saying he had completed Grade 11 at Chapman High School last year but had not been at school this year.
Bianca said her parents, Regina and Jimmy, were not coping and her mother had fainted on hearing about her son’s death.
Neighbour Joseph Oosthuizen, 45, said: “He was not a gangster.
“He wanted to help everyone and always did favours.
“I am disappointed and angry with the police.”
Oosthuizen said he had gone to an area called “Die Gaat” in Helenvale to watch the protest and returned home shortly before Heneke left to go and have a look.
“Around 10am, some guys called me to say Bum [Heneke] had been shot,” he said. “I was shocked and ran down, but he was already gone [to hospital].”
Oosthuizen called a friend to drive him to Livingstone, but Heneke was already dead when they arrived shortly after 11am.
“I burst into tears. His mother arrived and asked me [how he was], but I could not speak.
“She then went in to see her child. When she came out, she was in tears.”
A Helenvale school principal, who asked not to be named, said he had been driving back to the school after taking an ill pupil home, when about 30 people stopped his vehicle.
“They asked me to help take two guys to hospital. They said [they] were shot by the police.”
The principal said he had driven both of them to the hospital.
“When I got to the hospital, the one who had been shot in the hand could walk, but I waited for them to bring a wheelchair for the other guy,” he said.
Provincial police spokeswoman Brigadier Marinda Mills said that besides Heneke, two other people had been injured during the protest – the 27-year-old man who was shot in the hand and a 24-year-old man hit by a rubber bullet.
She said a case of murder and two of attempted murder would be investigated by Ipid.
Ipid is an independent body tasked with investigating alleged
She then went in to see her child. When she came out, she was in tears
offences by police officials, including fatalities or injuries allegedly caused by them.
“The members of the community are saying it is the police. The police are saying gang members were shooting and because there is an allegation it needs to be investigated,” Mills said.
Ipid national spokesman Moses Dlamini said investigators were on the scene yesterday afternoon.
“Police say they were firing rubber bullets but protesters are saying the gunshots were fired by police,” he said.
“Ballistics records will confirm what happened.”
Mills said a number of private vehicles and four police vehicles had been damaged.
“Several members sustained light injuries. Four suspects aged between 15 and 17 were arrested on charges of public violence,” she said.
The protesters also trashed the house of the Helenvale DA ward councillor’s assistant, Rina Potgieter, in Hartebees Street.
Potgieter, who had been at home with her grandchildren, one of whom is disabled, told how a group had arrived with bricks and burning tyres, accusing her of sending police to Helenvale to “kill their chommies”.
“I took my grandchildren and we stood one side helplessly while they trashed my house,” she said.
“They broke windows, removed burglar bars. My dining room chairs are all broken.” No one in the family was harmed. Asked why she had been targeted, Potgieter cited her work in DA councillor Pieter Hermaans’s office.
“I wasn’t near any scene where they were, so I don’t know why they say it’s my police that killed their friend,” she said.
She had not reported the matter as the police were barred from the area by protesters.
Many schools in the area sent their pupils home early because of safety concerns.
Mayoral spokesman Sibongile Dimbaza said although the situation was tense, the municipality had made promises which it would deliver on.
“Acts of violence can never find favour where civil engagement is needed,” he said.
“We are therefore asking for calm from the community.”
He said Bay safety and security political head John Best had been in the northern areas since the protests started last week to assess the situation and provide leadership.
They believed criminal or political elements had created the chaos.