9 March 2009
APF & RYN: Sebokeng Community Policing Forum members murder community activist
Sebokeng Community Policing Forum members murder community activist
The Radical Youth Network (RYN), along with the Anti Privatisation Forum (APF) strongly condemns the killing of Teboho “Diventsha” Tsotetsi by members of the Sebokeng Community Policing Forum (CPF). It is not the first time the community of Zone 20 in Sebokeng has experienced attacks from the people they claim to be protecting them. Sebokeng Police station has become a haven for thugs and gangsters!
What residents expected was a community safety patrol turned into a hunting expedition for patrollers to target community members of Zone 20 and, as happened to Teboho, brutally beat them. “Diventsha”, as Teboho was popularly known, was seriously beaten by the ‘patrollers’ last week Friday. He laid a charge against those he identified at the Sebokeng police station; he also indicated to the police that the ‘patrollers’ took his cell phone and wallet. On Saturday afternoon, the same group of CPF members attacked him again, repeatedly beating him and accusing him of disrespecting the law. It is believed that the second attack was meted out in order to force him to drop the charges, which he refused to do.
On Wednesday 5th March, at around 17h30, the same group of men came to his home and stabbed him to death in front of his parents.
Yesterday, the RYN contacted the Sebokeng police station director, Mrs. HP Boschoff, concerning the violence perpetrated by her CPF ‘patrollers’ and demanded strong action be taken against those responsible for Teboho’s murder. The director promised that she will take the matter up. Today, she informed us that a case has been opened and that a suspect is in police custody and will appear at the Sebokeng magistrate’s court on Monday, 9th March.
Last year in July, the police claimed the life of another Sebokeng Zone 20 activist, Mathafeni Majobe. He was killed a day after a community protest against poor service delivery. He was last seen in the hands of the police and found dead the following morning. A case was opened and the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD) also took up the matter and promised to deal with the police suspected of Mathafeni’s murder. Eight months later, the community and parents of the late Mathafeni are still waiting in vain. If there are any developments in the investigation of his murder, there is no way of telling.
The RYN together with the APF has organised a community mass meeting in Zone Phase One at 17h00 today to discuss the community’s response to the heinous killing of Teboho. With no trust in the police’s ability to abide by the law, let alone enforce it fairly, the community is demanding that the CPF stops ‘patrolling’ in Zone 20. The RYN believes that people should address the problems around crime and safety, without the involvement of these gangsters and murderers allegedly protecting us.
For more information please contact – Patrick ‘Patra’ Sindane @ 073 052 7005