We wont’ rest until we ind justice ‐ family

NHLANGANO - The family of the late Sihle Dludlu, who was shot dead by police at the Nhlangano Bus Rank, said they were not going to rest until justice was served.

The deceased’s elder brother, Zweli, stated that the day after the incident, they went to the police station to open a case against the police officer who allegedly shot his brother and were informed that a case had already been opened.

He said he was given a case number and was not going to stop following it up, especially because there was no much digging to be done as the killer was known.

He narrated that he had already started following what was happening, but twice he was told investigations were ongoing. Zweli narrated that to date, there had not been anything done by the police nor did they even come to apologise formally to them.

He stated that they were the ones following on the case and were being taken back and forth.

“We went there to ask for financial assistance but we were told to write a letter to the national commissioner of police (NATCOM) to request the financial help,” he said.

According to Zweli, they wrote the letter where they also requested the list of crimes committed by his late brother. “We did not get help of any sort. Even when we went to Nhlangano Police Station, we were told that they would give us a tent but they were fully booked,” said Zweli.

Mistakenly

In a story published after the incident, Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati was quoted saying that the deceased was mistakenly shot in a wrong place which resulted to his death.

Vilakati said the police officers wanted to shoot him on the lower part of his body as he was running.

After an interview, where the mother of the deceased stated that police never came to her home to apologise, Vilakati commented and said: “It’s a pity that in such cases, there gets to be many family members who surface and say different things but we are in constant communication with the mother of the deceased. We have opened a communicating channel between her and the police though we know she is not the only parent of the child.”