More charges hang over metro police boss

EKURHULENI metro police chief Hlula Msimang might face a second set of criminal charges relating to the 2007 killing of a man he admits he shot.

He is already facing a charge of murdering a man at his Bryanston, Johannesburg, home in February.

Of the 2007 shooting, Msimang said he shot Vincent Marran in self-defence.

In statements to the police, he claimed Marran was drunk and charged at him, shooting. Msimang said he shot back.

After five years of stalled investigations, the case has been referred to the director of public prosecutions for a decision on whether to prosecute.

Moses Dlamini, spokesman for the Independent Police Investigative Directorate, said witnesses' statements about the shooting do not correlate with evidence.

"Our assessment of the evidence seems to indicate that the shooting might not have been justified. We have already taken the docket to the director of public prosecutions for a decision whether to prosecute or not. We await that decision," said Dlamini.

Msimang - who is still working as Ekurhuleni police chief - had acted in self-defence when he shot the man he is accused of killing in his home earlier this year, his lawyer said.

Lawyer Bongani Khoza, said Msimang's life had been threatened when he shot the man.

Khoza confirmed the 2007 shooting of Marran.

"In 2007, our client, in the course of duty, and as expected of a lawenforcement officer, shot dead an armed suspect in an attempted hijacking incident, which he came across incidentally.

"The matter was fully investigated and his actions were found to have been justified and in accordance with the law by both the then Independent Complaints Directorate and the SAPS.

"The matter ended there," he said.

"We reject any insinuation of a cover-up as the matter was fully investigated and concluded. We question the motives of those behind this story, five years after the incident."

Khoza said: "[Msimang] acted and shall continue to act within the confines of the laws of the republic".

Marran's family - who have tried for five years to get information about the investigation - are convinced Msimang's statement is not true.

Marran's sister Yvette Williams said: "He always had only one bullet in his gun and when my mom went to the police they told her that he had one round in the weapon.

"His gun hadn't been fired."

Witness statements - including that of Msimang - said Marran had stopped his vehicle on a highway at about midnight on December 25 2007.

He was allegedly drunk and, the statements claimed, was aggressive.

Msimang allegedly shot him.

Williams said her brother's car was written off.

"Insurance paid out on the assumption that it was a botched hijacking," she said.