IFP calls for urgent investigation into KZN police brutality
The IFP has called upon the KwaZulu Natal Provincial Government and the National Minister of Police to give answers following the murder of a well-respected gospel singer from Durban.
Sapa
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Published: 2010/11/21 01:58:18 PM
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The IFP has called upon the KwaZulu Natal Provincial Government and the National Minister of Police to give answers following the murder of a well-respected gospel singer from Durban.
Sifiso Mzulwini, 33, a singer in the Ithemba Gospel Music Group was murdered near Durban on 18 November 2010. The first police report stated that he was shot by unidentified men but the second police report stated that he was shot by police who were looking for him for allegedly being involved in a spate of house burglaries and armed robberies in Isipingo.
"Of late, there has been an alarming increase in police recklessness in KZN. There is a lot of evidence to suggest that the police force in KwaZulu Natal is no longer bound by the law but is now operates on a shoot-to-kill policy where they simply shoot dead any person without asking questions or without trying to apprehend suspects," said Mr Velaphi Ndlovu, the IFP's spokesperson on Police.
Speaking about the Mzulwini murder, Mr Ndlovu added: "The family has reported the matter to the Independent Complaints Directorate. We are calling on the ICD to finalise their investigation as a matter of urgency so that public can be made aware of the gross abuse of power by the police in KZN."
Just recently, the police in KZN shot dead at least two suspects sought in connection with the killing of 10 people in Shongweni and Mariannhill.
In June, the IFP expressed its shock following reports that Phoenix police officers in KwaZulu Natal have killed three brothers in their sleep at their home in Mount Moriah North of Durban in what seems to be an unprovoked attack on an unarmed family. And two months prior, an Empangeni boy, Kwazi Ndlovu, 16, was shot and killed by police as he slept on a sofa at his Esikhawini home.
"It is very clear now that the police in KZN are now a law unto themselves and they are clearly in breach of our Constitution. South Africa cannot afford for its police force to slip back to the dark old days of apartheid, when police shot at innocent citizens without asking questions. Then, mafia-style tactics were employed in similar unprovoked acts in the name of crime fighting, now we are seeing the same trend developing again in KZN. We demand answer from Commissioner Cele about what has gone wrong with KZN's police force," added Ndlovu.
