Video: The Death of Phindile Ramncwana

On 1 June 2014, a group of police officers in a rural Eastern Cape township were accused of beating a man so badly that they broke his ribs and ruptured his small intestine. Phindile Ramncwana, 52, died from his injuries shortly thereafter. In spite of eyewitness statements detailing the assault and evidence that some of the police officers were repeat offenders, police management failed to hold officers implicated in Ramncwana’s murder accountable.

A recent investigation by Viewfinder revealed that SAPS’s failure to properly discipline these officers was the predictable consequence of South Africa’s broken police oversight mechanism.

This Viewfinder short film shows the circumstances surrounding the death of Phindile Ramncwana and the impact that it made on his family and community.