'Team had practised the drill': police sorry about Maponya funeral gaffe

Police have apologised for a drill parade that went embarrassingly wrong at the funeral of businessman Dr Richard Maponya on Tuesday.

The blunder, captured on television and broadcast widely on social media, saw officers seemingly not knowing their left from their right when given an order at the funeral held at the University of Johannesburg in front of dignitaries who had gathered to pay their respects.    

President Cyril Ramaphosa, first lady Dr Tshepo Motsepe and former presidents Thabo Mbeki and Kgalema Motlanthe were among the attendees.

The video elicited outrage from many quarters on social media.

“How do they even catch criminals if they cannot collaborate a simple march off the scene of the comrade's funeral,” said Muhlezi Ntombela on Twitter.    

National police spokesperson Brig Vishnu Naidoo on Wednesday described the incident as “rather unfortunate”.

“It's rather unfortunate that this had happened. This team had practised the drill. It was just simply an error which is highly regrettable,” he said.