Police Minister Bheki Cele has described as inexcusable the murder of a bystander, who died after being allegedly shot by a policeman, as law enforcement clashed with protesting Wits University students on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Cele made the remarks after visiting the man\u2019s bereaved family in Kempton Park on Thursday. The deceased has since been identified as Mthokozisi Ntumba, a 35-year-old married father of three.<\/p>\n
Ntumba, who had reportedly visited a clinic in Braamfontein in the vicinity of the protest, worked for the Department of Human Settlements, and had recently obtained a Master\u2019s Degree.<\/p>\n
Commenting on the fatal shooting of Ntumba, the Minister said: \u201cIt is something that has no grain of [sense] or defence. It\u2019s something that you can\u2019t explain (sic).\u201d<\/p>\n
Cele said he is hoping that the matter will be resolved speedily by the police.<\/p>\n
Cele said it was not yet clear if Ntumba was killed by live ammunition or a rubber bullet.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know for now. The IPID [Independent Police Investigative Directorate] is here and I\u2019ll be briefed after that. Justice [in the case] needs to happen [for the family].\u201d<\/p>\n
The Minister said much more needs to be done to address the excessive use of force by police.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to work towards that. There are many other [procedures] to be followed\u2026 We must work towards the elimination of this\u2026 It\u2019s a sad situation. It is something you can\u2019t live with.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026 Every month, the IPID gives me a long list of names of SAPS members, who are supposed to be referred to the NPA [National Prosecuting Authority]. There those who are charged, with some referred to the National Commissioner for disciplinary processes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is happening, maybe not in the glare of the media, but it is happening.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cele said police are implementing recommendations on police training contained in the Farlam Commission into police conduct in the mass killing of protesting miners in Marikana in 2012.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026 One of the aspects\u2026 the commission [emphasised] was the training of the POP [Public Order Policing], which is already happening.\u201d <\/p>\n
Asked about the police\u2019s perceived uneven treatment of black and white protesters, the Minister acknowledged that public sentiment was growing stronger. <\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026 I have sat with the national police management and\u2026 we are working on it. I don\u2019t agree that it\u2019s [across the board], but there [are] elements of such within the organisation. But it\u2019s not the stance of SAPS.\u201d \u2013 SAnews.gov.za<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Police Minister Bheki Cele has described as inexcusable the murder of a bystander, who died after being allegedly shot by a policeman, as law enforcement clashed with protesting Wits University students on Wednesday. Cele made the remarks after visiting the man\u2019s bereaved family in Kempton Park on Thursday. The deceased has since been identified as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[38678],"class_list":{"0":"post-183072","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-sanews","8":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183072\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}