An SANDF member, with police in the background.
Gallo Images/Brenton Geach
- A member of the South African National Defence Force has allegedly shot dead a man in Mpumalanga.
- The SANDF member was part of a group of law enforcement officials who had attended to a situation involving a violent mob.
- The deceased was allegedly trying to run away from the military officials when he was shot in the back and twice in the chest, according to the SABC.
A member of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has allegedly shot dead a man in Dingledale Trust, Chochocho on Saturday.
According to SAPS national spokesperson, Brigadier Vish Naidoo, the man was allegedly carrying a firearm.
Naidoo explained that police and SANDF members were called to the area amid complaints that someone was being assaulted.
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Upon arrival on scene, law enforcement were met by a violent mob who, according to Naidoo, allegedly attacked them, allegedly stabbing an SANDF member with a screwdriver in one of his fingers.
It was at this point that a man allegedly stepped out of his vehicle carrying a gun and was shot dead, allegedly by an SANDF member.
“The [Local Criminal Record Centre] LCRC and the pathologist were denied access to execute they duties,” Naidoo said.
“The community started burning tyres and throwing stones at the police as well as the SANDF. The members managed the situation and the pathologist as well as the LCRC were then able to execute their duties,” he added.
Firearms
All firearms in the incident have been taken in for forensic investigation and a murder and assault case has been opened for investigation, Naidoo said.
According to the SABC however, the deceased is a 37-year-old man who, according to his brother, Thabo Dilobe, was allegedly dragged out of his car and beaten.
“When he was trying to run away from the military men, one of them shot him in the back and when he tried to turn, he was shot twice in the chest,” Dilobe told SABC on Tuesday.
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He added that they have not received any communication from law enforcement since the incident.
“So far, we have no closure from the police, no closure from the military. No one from the police came to our house, no one from the SANDF came to our house.
“So far we don’t have any closure, we don’t even know what actually happened,” he said.
‘Beaten’
The deceased was apparently with his pregnant girlfriend in the car at the time. She was also allegedly beaten by SANDF.
Dilobe told SABC that the family would like to know who is responsible for this and why they did it.
“We please beg for the police and the military that we get closure from them because so far everything is classified, according to the police – we don’t [know] anything… everything is just a secret to them,” he said.
SANDF spokesperson Siphiwe Dlamini referred queries to SAPS who were dealing with the matter.
