The state has painted a picture of how difficult it was for an investigator to track down the four officers accused of killing Mthokozisi Ntumba during a student protest.
Prosecutor Nkosinathi Zuma on Wednesday told the Johannesburg magistrate's court that Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) investigating officer Tinyiko Thwala was met with challenges when she approached senior members in the police service to disclose the identities of the four officers attached to the public order policing unit.
It took a number of days to unearth evidence of what actually transpired when Ntumba was gunned down with rubber bullets during the student protest over historical debt.
This came out in the court yesterday during closing arguments in the bail application of Tshepiso Kekana, 27, Cidrass Motseothata, 43, Madimetsa Legodi, 37, and Victor Mohammed, 51.
Zuma said it took five days for the officers to be apprehended after Ntumba’s murder in Braamfontein on March 10.
He was not part of the protest and was coming from a clinic where he was treated for a stomach problem on the day.
The officers are facing charges of murder, three counts of attempted murder and defeating the ends of justice for failing to report the incident to their commanders.
“The commanders were not forthcoming with the identities of the applicants despite pictures of them being sent to their superiors,” Zuma said.
In her affidavit to oppose bail which was read into the record by Zuma, Thwala said the four officers approached a group of students from the Johannesburg Institute of Engineering and Technology College who were waiting for a bus and opened fire on them unprovoked.
She said the officers should have foreseen the consequences of their actions.
Based on footage from a CCTV recording obtained by Ipid on March 12, Thwala alleged that Ntumba was shot at close range of about 4m, along De Beer Street where there was no unrest.
“There was no protest action on De Beer Street. Applicant 1, 2 and 4 (Kekana, Motseothata and Mohammed) shot at students and alighted the nyala while shooting at the students and the deceased. The driver of the nyala, applicant 3 [Legodi], alighted the vehicle and followed his colleagues,” Thwala said in her affidavit.
“Applicant 3 walked around the scene and looked at the deceased [who was lying] on the ground and returned to the nyala.”
Thwala said Kekana and Motseothata also looked at Ntumba and without assisting him, they boarded their nyala and drove off.
“Applicant 1, 2 and 4 shot at students from the Johannesburg Institute for Engineering and Technology waiting for a bus. They did not pose a danger and were shot without provocation. The applicants, in their capacity as officers, should have foreseen the possibility of death or serious injuries,” Thwala said.
She said Legodi was arrested on the grounds of common purpose because he failed to stop his colleagues during the shooting.
“He [Legodi] walked around the scene and looked at the deceased. The four officers failed to report the incident to their commanders and that amounts to defeating the end of justice. They also used excessive force against students who were waiting for a bus.”
Kekana, Motseothata, Legodi and Mohammed told the court that they were innocent.
The cops, who were arrested on March 15, gave different reasons in their applications, with Legodi saying he feared he would contract Covid-19 in the overcrowded prisons. He is from Taung, North West, and has three children, the court heard.
Mohammed, a father of five from Dobsonville, Soweto, said though he had a good health bill, he was suffering from anxiety and was developing symptoms of depression. He said the situation around Braamfontein was tense and that vehicles were being stoned by protesting students.
“We did not act illegally when carrying out our duties. I was unaware that the deceased was shot nor do I know who shot him. I did not and will not fire rubber bullets at members of the public with the intention of killing them,” Mohammed said.
Kekana, who is from Limpopo but lives in Sophiatown, Johannesburg, said he had one child and had been a cop for two years. Motseothata, also from Limpopo, has two children.
The conduct of the officers has come under sharp scrutiny.
The case was postponed to Friday for judgment.
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