The SAPS in Mount Frere (KwaBhaca), Eastern Cape, has been accused of protecting officers and covering up after a man was shot dead by the police outside a farm in January.
Police shot Nyaniso MacDonald Makaula, 58, while he was in his car near his cousin’s farm. His cousin had called him to ask for his help in protecting the sheep from thieves.
Speaking to the Falcons, his daughter, Yonela Makaula, said her brother, Yolisa, was with their father when the police, unprovoked, shot Makaula in the head, chest and stomach in the early morning hours of January 21, 2023.
“On January 20, my father got a call from his cousin and told him that the sheep were being stolen, so he asked that he should go and assist him. My father drove to the farm and looked for the sheep until he found them near the farm. He was with my brother on that night and my brother saw everything.”
She said that at around 3am, her father and brother were driving back to the farm when police shot her father.
“After the killing, the police immediately called for back-up, stating there was a shooting and that they needed help. This was a lie because my father died inside the car and his firearm was not used.”
Yonela said the matter was reported to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) but six months later, no progress had been made and the family had not heard from the police.
Instead, she said, she had been been receiving threatening calls and messages, warning her not to pursue the matter.
“We are also getting threats and intimidation from unknown people about this since we want justice for our father. We have written to the provincial commander, complaining about the lack of progress and the threats we have been subjected to by those who are involved,” Yonela said.
She vowed to exhaust all means to get her father’s killers behind bars.
Eastern Cape police spokesperson Brigadier Thembinkosi Kinana said the case was under investigation but did not disclose whether progress has been made.
“Kindly be informed that after the incident was reported to the police. As a matter of procedure, Ipid was contacted and informed to attend to the crime scene in order to Investigate the matter further,” Kinana said.
“For this reason, the police are not at liberty to provide comment on a matter that is under investigation by another office, to avoid being perceived as interfering with or influencing the course and process of the ongoing investigation.
“Otherwise, the SAPS management can assure both the affected family and all the interested parties that the said case is in the capable hands of Ipid and there is a regular engagement between the Ipid office on one hand and the Ipid office on the other to ensure that the investigation is finalised as quickly as it may be possible.”