Death squad victim's family sues for R2.4m

The cash-strapped family of a Durban taxi boss who was allegedly assassinated by the notorious Cato Manor organised crime unit is suing the minister of police for R2.4-million.

Five months after Bongani Mkhize was gunned down in February 2009, his widow, Fakazile, defaulted on repayments for his fleet of five taxis, valued at R1.4-million. Four taxis from the fleet have since been repossessed by the banks.

The remaining taxi generates less than R5000 a month.

Fakazile Mkhize, who earns a "pittance" as a dressmaker, said this week that she just managed to hold on to the family's modest home, valued at R1-million, in Effingham Heights, north of Durban. "Our four children and I are living each day on God's grace," she said.

The lawsuit, which is expected to be heard in the High Court in Pietermaritzburg in November, is the first case in which a family has instituted legal proceedings against the government for the "unlawful" killings by the 23 officers of the now disbanded "death squad".

The unit's torture and killing spree was exposed by the Sunday Times after a six-month investigation in 2011. The exposé triggered the police's Independent Police Investigative Directorate's probe into 51 suspicious deaths.

Twenty-two unit members are on trial in the High Court in Pietermaritzburg for murder and racketeering. In the case, which resumes in November, they stand accused of committing the assassinations in retaliation for suspected police murders and other killings related to ongoing taxi wars.

According to the summons filed in Mkhize's case, she is claiming R1.3-million. Her children are also suing: Zamambo, 26, for R104841; Nkosiphile, 23, for R219506; Siphathelwa, 20, for R331005; and Phakeme, 17, for R403436.

Before Bongani's death, his taxi operation earned R31000 a week, which, according to the court papers, would have supported Mkhize for the remainder of her life and the children until they were able to support themselves.

"After my husband's murder, our life changed completely. Our children struggled to cope at school and the older kids were forced to drop out of Varsity College. As a single parent, I just could not afford the fees ... and the taxi business was collapsing," she said.

An actuarial report that details the family's loss of support says Mkhize had to retrench 10 people from her late husband's taxi operation, which paid its drivers R3500 a month and spent, among other costs, R6180 a month on fuel.

The family's remaining taxi "is not operating on the original profitable routes".

According to Mkhize, she struggled to take over the taxi business. "I was unfamiliar with the business and did not know where to start. We were losing money and I [eventually] had to hand the vehicles over to the banks," said Mkhize, adding that it had taken her family a while before deciding to sue the government.

"The money will never replace him, but it will be able to provide for the children ... and [give us] a fresh start. I want the children to return to school, study and achieve their dreams," she said.

Her children are employed in contract jobs, earning "average wages" that they contribute to the household's expenses.

According to Mkhize's legal team, summons have already been issued against the minister of police.

In December 2011, the Sunday Times reported that Bongani had claimed to be aware that the Cato Manor organised crime unit wanted to kill him.

He took the bizarre step of going to court in 2008 to obtain an interdict to prevent the police from assassinating him.

In his affidavits, he said that he was "reliably informed by certain members of the South African Police Service" that he was being sought by the unit in connection with the murder of the police's taxi task team investigator, Superintendent Zethembe Chonco, who was killed during an ambush while transporting awaiting-trial prisoners in 2008.

On November 14 2008, Judge David Ntshangase made an order prohibiting the police from "unlawfully killing, injuring, threatening [or] harassing" Bongani.

But he was cornered and killed in February 2009 after a high-speed chase in Durban's busy Umgeni Road.