Family wants answers after death in police custody
Sakhiwo Mbonyongwana died in a Khayelitsha police station cell on Tuesday
(From left to right) Nosiphiwo Sana, Nontombi Mbonyongwana with Phumla Mnkulwa outside the Khayelitsha police station where their family member died inside the cells: Photo: Buziwe Nocuze
A family in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, wants the police to explain why one of their family members, taken into custody on Monday, was found dead in a cell in Khayelitsha police station the next day.
Sakhiwo Mbonyongwana had been accused of murdering his 36-year-old girlfriend.
âWe were told that the community has sorted him out and they took him to the police stationâ, said Phumla Mnkulwa, a family member of the deceased.
The family says they went to Khayelitsha police station on Tuesday morning, but were told they will only see him on Wednesday, when he would appear in the Khayelitsha court.
âOn Wednesday we went to court. He was not there. We asked people working in the court which courtroom he will appear in and we were shocked when we were told that his name is not there, so he wonât be appearing in court that day,â said Mnkulwa.
Nomonde Mbaba, a neighbour of Sakhiwo, said detectives had come to Sakhiwoâs home and he learned of the death from them. Mbaba informed the family.
On Thursday, GroundUp spoke to family members outside the Khayelitsha police station. Mnkulwa said they have been going to the station every day since Tuesday but did not get answers.
âHow come Sakhiow died in police cells?â asked Nontombi Mbonyongwana, the deceasedâs sister.
Western Cape Provincial Commissioner Lieutenant-Colonel Yolisa Matakata said IPID is investigating. âThe suspect had been arrested on Monday evening after the death of his 36-year-old girlfriend who was allegedly beaten to death by the deceased after an argument,â said Matakata.
Support independent journalism
Donate using Payfast
Next: Metrorail to return with an even worse service after lockdown vandalism
Previous: Women in danger let down by courts
© 2020 GroundUp.
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
You may republish this article, so long as you credit the authors and GroundUp, and do not change the text. Please include a link back to the original article.