Cops arrested for stealing foreigners’ groceries
face internal charges to boot
Sizwe sama Yende@City_Press13
March 2014 16:57
Four Mpumalanga policemen,
who allegedly stole groceries belonging to Somali nationals, will face internal
misconduct charges after their arrest last week.
The police officers were
caught after one of the Somalians took pictures of them with his cellphone as
they loaded items into their van when Pienaar residents near Nelspruit began
looting their shops.
The locals ran amok on
March 2 after the funeral of 20-year-old learner Wellington Dube. He was
allegedly shot dead by a Somalian after a fist-fight on February 25.
Residents vandalised and
looted shops owned by Somalians in retaliation for Dube’s death.
Mpumalanga police
spokesperson Colonel Leonard Hlathi said the four constables – BonginkosiMeela
(30), DumisaniZiyana (36), ThembaMathebula (32) and AbednigoMkhatshwa (34) –
have been criminally charged for theft, the possession of suspected stolen
property and defeating the ends of justice.
Hlathi said the groceries
were found at a house in Pienaar and the homeowner told police the officers had
sold it to her for R2 500. The groceries were valued at R4 000.
The men are out on R1 000
bail each and their next court appearance is at the KaBokweni Magistrates’
Court on April 3.
Said Hlathi: “We’re
definitely going to bring internal charges of misconduct against them. The
investigations are under way.”
The situation in Pienaar
almost got out of hand when it was alleged that, a day after the violence, the
Somalians had poisoned water reservoirs.
The Mbombela municipality
subsequently shut down the water supply and flushed out the reservoirs. Samples
were sent to a laboratory for testing.
The results found there was
nothing wrong with the water. It turned out that the message, sent via SMS to
councillors, was a hoax.
Hlathi said police had not
yet established the source of the message.
Mbombela mayor Cathy
Dlamini apologised to Somali nationals when she met them last week.
“I’ll have to apologise to
you on behalf of those people who lied using your name. This was done by one
naughty person who wanted us to panic,” Dlamini said.
She has promised to meet
foreign nationals regularly to attend to their problems.
