Luyolo Mdaka shows the gunshot wound. Photo: Johnnie Isaac
The Independent Police Investigative Directorate is investigating allegations that Ngcobo police in the Eastern Cape used live ammunition to shoot 25-year-old Luyolo Mdaka.
Mdaka says one bullet hit him on the back and another in the buttock. He spent a week at All-Saints Hospital in Ngcobo and had a minor operation to remove bullets from his body. One bullet could not be removed.
Mdaka said he was driving through Ngcobo with some family members in the early hours of Sunday 11 October when he realised that he was being followed by another car. He said the car had bright headlights which made it difficult for him to see what kind of car it was.
He veered off the main road and drove towards a residential area in the outskirts of the town. When the car continued to follow him, he says, he thought it was hijackers trying to force him off the road. He decided to stop and get out of the car, with its keys, in the hope that they would give up their plan.
Mdaka said, “I didn’t know that it was the police van because they had turned on the bright headlamps and didn’t use the blue lights or siren. I drove to the dead end of the street, jumped out with the car keys and ran.”
“I then heard gunshots and fell down and crawled to the drainage ditch on the side of the road and lay down.”
He said when he realised he had been shot he went back to the car.
He found two policemen talking to his family.
“One of the family members called for an ambulance,” said Mdaka.
His sister, Andiswa Mdaka, who was one of the passengers in the car, said police on the scene had told the family that they were chasing the car because the driver had not stopped at a stop street.
Eastern Cape Provincial police spokesperson Khaya Thonjeni said he could not comment because the matter was being investigated by IPID.
Mdaka’s father, Gcininkosi, said his son was in pain and using crutches to walk. He said the family was considering legal action.
IPID spokesperson Ndileka Cola confirmed the investigation. “This matter has been reported to IPID and the Directorate will be conducting a full investigation of this incident,” said Cola.
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