Body of man 'assaulted by police' found close to Lesotho border

The police watchdog is investigating the murder of a man whose body was found close to the SA-Lesotho border on Wednesday.

"We are investigating a case of murder. The national police reported there was a shooting but our investigators found that it was not a shooting although the guy was assaulted," Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) spokesperson Moses Dlamini said on Thursday.

Dlamini said a postmortem would be conducted on Friday to determine the cause of death.

Police spokesperson Capt Phumelelo Dhlamini said the body of the man was found close to the Caledon River, which divides SA and Lesotho.

"The deceased was found on the SA side. The allegation is that he was assaulted by the police," he said.

The man was a Lesotho national.

In the wake of the incident on Wednesday evening, emotions ran high as protesters blocked the border post with burning tyres. Dlamini said the post had since been cleared and traffic was flowing.