End the years of silence on police brutality in SA

Police brutality in SA remains a huge problem and has left many families filled with anger and hatred against the men and women in blue. Several cases are reported every year but there seems to be little if any action taken by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid). Just over eight years ago the world watched in disbelief as police opened fire on Marikana miners, killing 34 in the process. It is a bitter pill to swallow that, even as the families continue to mourn, not one of those who took part in the shooting has faced jail time.

In 2013 two young men were shot dead, as the Dispatch reported on Thursday, allegedly by the Tactical Response Team (TRT) police unit in Mdantsane. Witnesses say the two were cornered while walking home one night and loaded into a police van. Later they were ordered out and told to run. As they ran police shot them in the back.

The Ipid investigated the case and confirmed to the Dispatch that the gun used was from the TRT. Seven years later, once again not a single officer has been arrested. The docket, meanwhile, has gone missing.

All the families of those two young men want is closure. They feel the police have failed them as they seem to be protecting suspects who

Does it need a community uprising, as in the case of Nathaniel Julies, before Ipid acts? Surely this is not the route we should be taking as a country

are their colleagues.

Where is the justice for these two families? And for the relatives of those who were killed in Marikana? Will they ever find closure?

Does it need a community uprising, as in the case of Nathaniel Julies, before Ipid acts? Surely this is not the route we should be taking as a country, when we have institutions that are meant to deal with cases of police brutality.

It is our hope that provincial police commissioner Lt-Gen Liziwe Ntshinga will prioritise the Mdantsane case so that it reaches finality with speed after all these years. It is wrong that these grieving relatives continue to know no rest.

We hope the police officers involved come forward and tell the families why these two young men died with bullets in their backs and chests. The citizens of this country have already lost enough confidence in state institutions.