Sunday Times E-Edition

STUDENT PROTESTS

Family sues police for dad’s death

By FRANNY RABKIN

● The family of Mthokozisi Ntumba — allegedly killed by police during a student protest in Braamfontein in March last year — is suing the state for more than R56m.

Ntumba’s death caused an outcry, and again raised questions about police brutality and the use of rubber bullets during protests. The 35-year-old had not been involved in the protest, but was coming out of a clinic after consulting a doctor about a stomach ache when the incident happened.

Police officers Tshepisho Kekana, Cidraas Motseothata, Madimetja Legodi and Victor Mohammed are on trial in the Johannesburg high court for his murder.

An unlawful death at the hands of the state — whether intentional or negligent — also gives rise to a civil claim for damages, said the family’s attorney, Rupert Candy. Ntumba was the primary caregiver and his widow, who has three small children, has had to make ends meet. “It hasn’t been easy,” said Candy.

At the criminal trial, the state will have to prove the police officers’ intention beyond a reasonable doubt. At the civil trial, the family will have to prove the police officers acted either intentionally or negligently “on a balance of probabilities”, with the court deciding whose version is more probably true.

As the criminal trial got under way this week, Candy issued summons on behalf of Thandi Ntumba and her children, aged eight, four and one. The family is suing for funeral costs, emotional shock, trauma and grief, medical treatment for impaired mental health, and loss of support.

Candy said Ntumba was a qualified town planner, employed by the City of Tshwane, and had a master’s degree. “He was a professional,” he said. With a young family that he would have supported through school, they are claiming R3m for the youngest child, R2.5m for the middle child, R2m for the eldest and R350,000 for his widow. A further

R50m has been claimed for emotional shock, trauma and grief. Candy said this was based on precedent and the unique circumstances of the case.

The family has also sued for a breach of Ntumba’s constitutional rights. They have asked the court to order the police to establish a fund called the “Mthokozisi Ntumba Memorial Fund” for the education of youth affected by police brutality. The fund must be “maintained in perpetuity” and the police must put at least R500,000 into it every year, says the summons.

Deaths by rubber bullets and police brutality in general have gone on for too long, said Candy, “all the way back to Andries Tatane and all the way up to Nathaniel Julies”.

A 2018 report from a panel of experts on policing and crowd management, recommended by the Marikana commission, found that the main cause of fatalities and injuries in crowd management incidents was the use of less lethal weapons “including, in particular, rubber bullets, but also teargas and stun grenades”.

The police did not respond to a request for comment.

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2022-01-23T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-01-23T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://times-e-editions.pressreader.com/article/281702618093120

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