A man who was allegedly shot by police in a case of mistaken identity is taking the matter to court as investigations into his attempted murder were stopped.
Thabo Mbonani was driving his red VW Polo to work on the afternoon of October 27 2020 when he was shot at by two police officers in Leandra, Mpumalanga.
Police officers allegedly believed he was driving a car that was involved in an armed business robbery at a Pep store.
Mbonani, 35, was shot in the head, neck and right shoulder, which left him with permanent injuries. He also suffers from headaches as fragments of a bullet are still lodged in his head.
According to a report from the officer who attended the shooting, an attempted murder case was opened for investigation and a police rifle and pistol were found at the scene.
In a statement and an affidavit by the two police officers who pulled the trigger, they said they were patrolling the area when they noticed Pep employees outside a store. The two attended to the employees who told them their store had been robbed by four armed men.
The staff pointed out to the police a red VW Polo which was seen speeding about 500 metres away.
A chase ensued and the officers flashed their lights, hooted, used hazards and fired a warning shot in an attempt to stop the vehicle, they said in their statements.
When they approached a traffic light, the car slowed down. The officers said they could not see inside the vehicle due to the dark-tinted rear windscreen.
However, they fired two shots through the rear windscreen until the car pulled to the side of the road.
They instructed the armed robbery suspects to get out of the car, and it was Mbonani who exited his vehicle instead. Upon searching the car and finding nothing, the officers realised he did not match the description of the armed robbers.
“We were surprised when we found only the driver inside the vehicle because the vehicle was the one that was pointed out to us by Pep employees. We never lost sight of it. We never had enough time for a proper interview with the employees as they pointed to the vehicle that was driving very fast,” said one of the officers in a statement.
The police called an ambulance. Mbonani had two surgeries and spent a week in hospital before enduring a further five months of recovery at home.
The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) did not pursue an attempted murder case, but instead a case of discharge of an official firearm was opened, spokesperson Phaladi Shuping said.
“Ipid looked at the matter ... and did not find substantive grounds or merits to take over the docket and conduct a full investigation. Ipid is merely in possession of copies and consulted and verified with role players in determining the merits to decide on whether it should continue with the full investigation or not.”
He said the Leslie police station, where the officers are based, is investigating the matter.
But police spokesperson Col Donald Mdluli confirmed that they have not yet received the docket.
“ Ipid still has the docket,” he told TimesLIVE Premium.
Mbonani said he was not hopeful that the police would investigate their own colleagues, but said he would continue to fight for justice.
“This is a nightmare. I cannot imagine Ipid bullying a law-abiding citizen and comfortably redirecting their supposed role to the same police officers who shot at me. Basically they are saying SAPS must investigate themselves ... My whole intent is nothing but to compel Ipid to effect arrests since our matter is an undisputed official case of attempted murder with strong merits.
“I am a law-abiding citizen who was going to work and I don’t have a criminal record and Ipid tried to distance themselves and reduce this to the police station,” he told TimesLIVE Premium.
In the meantime, the shooting left the married father of one with loss of significant income as he was demoted from a process artisan to a clerk due to his injuries.
Mbonani’s attorney, Tebogo Putsoane of Dev Maharaj & Associates, said they were assisting him with a civil case to claim for loss of income, but were waiting for Ipid's ballistic report to link the police firearms to the shooting.
“We are in the quantification phase because he has been demoted. Due to his injuries, he can no longer perform his duties as he used to pre-accident. We are trying to amend our industrial psychology report to factor in the change in circumstances [of his employment]. It affects him as a family man and for something he did not cause.
“Ipid is protecting the police. What if Mbonani had lost his life and didn’t survive the shooting incident? What would have been the situation?” said Putsoane.
Mbonani said he now feels unsafe given the outcome of Ipid's investigation.
“I am so petrified. If these people can manage to cook such a critical case without my knowledge or that of my attorney, then what could prevent them from assassinating me since I am the one exposing them? I am now highly convinced that my life is under threat of assassination when I learnt that they can manage to reduce such a case to a simple discharge of an official firearm. What could stop them from killing me?” he said.
