Narrow escape for trio shot at by undercover Matsulu policemen

Senzo Gerald Mkhabela (28) and two companions are fortunate to be alive after they were allegedly shot at by members of the local police on January 3.

The three victims said they had been mistaken for bank robbers.

Mkhabela said he was with his girlfriend and a friend who was going to leave them at their guest house and take the car, since he had planned on spending the night there, when an undercover police official dressed as a thief in a balaclava knocked on his window with a gun.

“I initially thought I was being hijacked, as I had been hijacked in 2021, also at gunpoint. The individual at the window had no uniform or form of identification that would have identified him as a police officer, so I drove away trying to escape what I thought was a hijacking attempt, two vehicles both of which did not have number plates, chased after the three of us.

The SAPS officer fired more than 10 times as I was driving away, not just once or twice as a warning. I was shot and the bullets kept on coming, and I had to stop. I then managed to flee, leaving the car behind.”

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He said the bullets damaged his car, windscreen and sound system, and some pierced his seats and dashboard. “I got hurt and had five bullet wounds on my back and one on the leg,” he said.

Mkhabela said after they had all jumped out of the vehicle, he got separated from his friend and girlfriend. “I hid in a nearby yard for a couple of minutes until I saw it was safe for me to go. I walked to a friend’s house and called the car tracking services to report the hijacking of my car.

I also called my friend to find out where he was, and he said he was with my woman, and that the police in uniform had arrived. They were standing near my car,” he said.

“I dragged myself over to the location where I had left my car and found the police in uniform. I explained our situation to the police officers. They said that their undercover colleagues had mistakenly
shot at us, mistaking us for a gang about which they had received information was planning to rob a bank on the same day,” Mkhabela said.

He was taken to hospital.

“I was bleeding and I was transported to the clinic where an ambulance took me to Rob Ferreira Hospital. The doctors treated me and said none of the six bullets damaged any organs.”

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Mkhabela said after being discharged, he went to open a case at the Matsulu Police Station. “I was instructed to wait for the undercover policemen who shot at me. Yes, they did show up. I was taken to a room where I was questioned for hours. They also threatened me,” Mkhabela alleged.

Mpumalanga News contacted a provincial police spokesperson, Brigadier Selvy Mohlala, who referred the paper to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid).
Ipid was contacted and the spokesperson, Lizzy Suping, said they would investigate the matter.