#JusticeforPhakamani protest leaves eMondlo burning

Lolo Madonsela

The community of eMondlo is up in arms following the death of Phakamani Kubheka last weekend, allegedly at the hands of the police.
The community claims this is the third alleged case where a person has died as a result of police actions, yet nothing has happened to the officers.
Community member Lungelo Xulu says that the community’s protest is a cry to the Provincial Office to assist in these cases and give justice to Phakamani and the deceased in the other two previous cases.
“The statement that they have given about the death of Phakamani is in these police officers’ favour. Therefore they will win this case, even though IPID is investigating them.

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“Musa Hadebe was beaten up by the police on allegations of dealing in drugs. When he died, they claimed he was killed by drugs, which was not the case. Again, Ndiki Khanyi, who was a stock theft suspect, was taken from his home by the police. He was fine. When they got to the police station, they beat him up and he came back home in a coffin.
“We do not know what happened to those cases. With the death of Phakamani, we are not going to let this one go. We need Province to take up all these three cases and we need to be updated on the developments of these cases,” said Xulu.
“This is our way of showing our frustration with the police killing people in eMondlo and getting away with it. We do not want anything like this to happen anymore,” added Xulu.
Captain Nkocy Gwala said in a statement that two police officers working for the Zululand Cluster Task Team were doing their patrol duties as usual on Saturday night. At about 8.30pm, a male policeman was dropping off a female police officer at her home. The policeman was trying to make a U-turn after dropping her off when he heard the female officer screaming and shouting for help. He quickly jumped out of the vehicle and saw the suspect grabbing the female officer by the neck. The male officer pushed the suspect away while asking the female officer if she knew the man. She said the suspect was trying to take her firearm. The male officer then told the suspect to move away, but instead the suspect took out a knife and attacked the male officer.
Capt Gwala added that the male officer drew his service pistol and fired two quick shots into the ground in front of the suspect, but the suspect did not stop. Instead he moved towards the officer while raising a knife. The male officer then fired one shot, which hit the suspect in the chest. The suspect fell to the ground. The officer overbalanced while moving backwards and also fell to the ground, but quickly got to his feet to see the suspect also stand up. While coming towards the officer again, the suspect fell and cried for help. The suspect was then rushed to the nearest clinic in Section B.
Police have confirmed that the suspect later died and his family was notified.
According to Capt Gwala, IPID was notified of the inquest case and arrangements were made to get a social worker to perform counselling for both officers. The community of eMondlo has begun a protest dubbed #JusticeforPhakami, which comes while South Africa is mourning the passing of Collins Khosa (who allegedly died in the hands of the SANDF) and America mourns the death of George Floyd at the hands of police. The #JusticeforPhakamani protest has brought eMondlo to a standstill as fires burn and smoke rises into the air.

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