Tsakane residents have  threatened to protest should the seven EMPD officers accused of murder be granted bail. They claimed that they will render Tsakane ungovernable and take matters into their own hands should their cries fall on deaf ears. The bail applicants appeared at the Tsakane Magistrate court today for their formal bail application and wouldn't allow Zimoja to take pictires of them. Their colleagues also intimidated the journalist and didn't allow her to take pictures.

BEATEN AND STRANGLED

This after Kwenzokwakhe Shabalala (23) was allegedly beaten and then strangled to death with a wire by officers on 8 September. He left his home in Ladysmith two weeks prior to the incident to look for a job in Johannesburg. It is alleged that the deceased and three other victims were inside their shack when the officers ambushed them. The state prosecutor Nthabiseng Mabalane told the court that two of the victims were already sleeping and the others were watching TV when the incident happened.
"Surviving victim Zenzele Mgaga and the deceased were the first ones to attempt to flee when they were assaulted by the officers. Mgaga was shot on the leg but fortunately he managed to flee. The two other victims also ran away but the officers caught Kwenzokwakhe,"she said.

DRAGGED AND STRANGLED

She said Zenzele went to look for help from relatives and on their way back to the shack they bumped onto the officers who were travelling in three vehicles.              "The officers were asked where Kwenzokwakhe was but they claimed to not know because he fled. The victims claim they tried to open a case with SAPS but were turned back because no one had died from the incident." Mabalane said the victims asked the officers to go with them to the police to confess what they'd done and they obliged. "As they went to the police station for the second time one of the survivors who was left behind called to tell them he had found Kwenzokwakhe but he was dead."
Kwenzokwakhe's lifeless body was found behind a shack with visible tracks showing, that he was dragged and strangled .He was lying face down and full of soil.
Witnesses claim that deceased was beaten by applicant 3,4 and 7. They pressed him to the ground and his hands were tied to the back, one of the applicants kept saying "trek om". The deceased was crying and not given a chance to breath with his face on the sand. He was beaten until she stopped crying.

THEY MUST FACE THE LAW

The state says the applicants should not be granted bail. Kwenzokwakhe's older brother, Mmiseni Shezi, said as a family they are tired of facing their brothers' killers.
"We haven't had the time to mourn or heal and having to come here and look at these men is frustrating. We don't want them to granted bail," he said.
He said Zenzele came running to him to inform him that the police were beating them up and shot him.
Another brother, Mncedisi Shabalala, said if the officers are granted bail they will be forced to take matters into their own hands. "We are angry because they didn't even find anything from that shack they ransacked. They brutally murdered my baby brother and tossed him behind a shack. They don't deserve bail, they need to spend the rest of their lives in jail as much as we will never see our brother again," said Shabalala. The matter will be back on Monday for bail arguments.