Orlando Chauke
LIMPOPO – Police officers allegedly beat a 46-year-old man from Makhuva village to death in front of his son recently because they suspected him of dealing with rhino horns.
Johan Mahori, son of the deceased, explains what happened that evening
The police banged at the door of our house at around 23:00 looking for my father. The armed men forced their way into the house and demanded the whereabouts of my father.
“I told them that I didn’t know my father was.” The men ransacked the house and left.
The police men allegedly came across the deceased on the street nearby and interrogated him. “They started beating him right on the street.”
“I heard his screams and rushed to the scene to investigate. I found him lying on the ground as they beat and kicked him.” They were interrogating him about possession of an unlicensed firearm he explained.
“They later propped him up and clamped his hands behind him. By then I could see that my father was running out of air because of the beatings. They then put him inside a van and drove with him back into our house so he could show them the gun that he had and to verify whether it was licensed or not,” he continued.
“By the time they were satisfied that the gun was licensed, my father had already died from the beating.
“They tried to wake him up and when they realised that he was not responding they took him to the nearest clinic where they dropped him and left.”
Police response
According to Giyani police spokesperson, WO Thomas Makhubele, the police officers involved were part of a task team from Pretoria looking for people who deal in rhino horns.
“They went there to establish the link between him and poaching activities in the Kruger National Park, and then during the process of interrogation he fell,” Makhubele explained. He said the police suspect the deceased was not beaten and he had no visible injuries to support the claim by the family. Makhubele said it was possible the man might have died from hypertension.
“What we know is that he fell and then they took him to the nearby clinic where he was certified died.
“The Independent Police Investigative Directorate has been assigned to investigate whether there was fault from the side of the police or not; a post-mortem will be done to ascertain the cause of his death,” he said.
Meanwhile the deceased’s nephew, Philip Mzimba, want justice done. “They killed him like a dog in front of his house and then dumped his body at the clinic. How we can have peace of mind when his killers roam free in the name of the law,” he said.
