Police commissioner calls for calm after KZN man's killing sparks anger

National police commissioner General Khehla Sitole has called for calm in Umlalazi‚ Eshowe‚ in KwaZulu-Natal after the killing of a community member.

Police said that on Wednesday‚ two young men‚ one of them being 30-year-old Spamandla Xulu‚ were fishing in a dam on the Gqobhokani farm.

“The men were confronted by a security guard and requested to leave which resulted in an altercation that led to the guard allegedly fatally shooting Mr Xulu. The second man escaped uninjured. Since the shooting of Mr Xulu‚ the security guard has been arrested on a charge of murder and he is currently in police custody.

“However‚ the community is alleged to have taken to the streets‚ initially burning tyres on the R66 road followed by the burning of the farmer's house at the Gqobhokani farm‚ his sugarcane plantation as well as at least two neighbouring plantations‚” police said in an official statement on Thursday.

The man who allegedly killed Xulu has been arrested.

"I have tasked the Provincial Commissioner to also mobilise an investigation task team to investigate the burning of the farm house and farms and bring those responsible to book as such behaviour is criminal and unacceptable.

“Thus far members of the Public Order Policing Unit‚ Tactical Response Team and members of the local police stations have been mobilised to stabilise and normalise the area. Destroying property is no solution to any problem but rather is a crime which is punishable by law.

Furthermore‚ it serves to neither help nor correct any situation"‚ said Sitole.