Families of two shot by police in 2013 still awaiting justice

No-one charged with deaths of young men as docket goes ‘missing’

Seven years ago two young men were shot dead by Mdantsane police — but their families are yet to see justice done because the docket has gone “missing”.

Friends Philasande Thwana, 19, and Lulamile Mgwali, 23, were killed while running away, on July 2 2013, by the Mdantsane Tactical Response Team (TRT).

Each body, according to the two families, had two bullet wounds.

When the families ask about progress in the case, the Independent Police Investigating Directorate (Ipid) tells the family that the docket is with the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). For its part, the NPA claims the docket is with SAPS detectives. When the family goes to the SAPS, they are told the docket is with Ipid.

Nozuko Makebesana, mother of Thwana, told the Dispatch her life was devastated and she wanted justice.

“The police, including the provincial police officers, are not telling the truth about this case because it involves one of their own. They are hiding the wrongdoing of their officers,” Makebesana said. “They killed them like they were killing criminals.

“The provincial police commissioner should act on this. If a cop was shot dead, the suspects would have been arrested within 72 hours.”

The grieving mom said she had to resign from work because she was so depressed. “For the past three years I’ve been searching for my son’s docket. The docket is stolen.”

Her son was a student at Lovedale College in Zwelitsha.

Mgwali’s sister, Hombakazi Mgwali, told the Dispatch her brother was in East London looking for work and staying with their aunt in Mdantsane’s NU11.

She said when she visited the Mdantsane mortuary to identify his body, she got the shock of her life. “His arms were still up, showing that he was surrendering to the police. They shot him twice in the chest. It was so painful to see him like that.”

She also needs to see justice done. “The head of the police in the Eastern Cape should come clean and tell us where is the docket. Who killed our children? What’s his name? This is double murder at the hands of police, yet still no-one is charged.”

Mgwali said witnesses to the shooting said the two young men were stopped by police and loaded into the back of the vehicle. Later they were offloaded. “We are told that they were then told to run away after they alighted from the police vehicle. As they ran, they were shot dead. One was shot in the back and the second in the chest. We also heard that they were beaten before being placed in the back of that police van.”

Their bodies were found the next day by police. Cartridges were already collected but Makhebesana was lucky to see a few on the ground.

“The initial investigator of the case told me that the bullets belong to a gun that was used by the TRT members.”

Makebesana said a postmortem conducted on her son’s body found the cause of death was a gunshot wound in his back and abdomen. “That tells you that when he was shot, he was running and looking the other direction.”

A few days after the shooting in 2013, Ipid confirmed it was investigating the deaths of the two young men. Then Ipid spokesperson Moses Dlamini said: “Policemen from the Tactical Response Team were involved in the shooting.”

On Wednesday, national Ipid spokesperson Ndileka Cola had not responded by print deadline to questions sent to her. Eastern Cape police spokesperson Captain Khaya Tonjeni promised to look at the inquiry but at the time of going to print there was no response from his office.

NPA spokesperson Anelisa Ngcakani acknowledged receipt of the Dispatch inquiry but had not responded to the questions by deadline.

The police, including the provincial police officers, are not telling the truth about this case because it involves one of their own