The survivor of a mysterious shooting by the police on New Year ’s Eve, who was recently cleared by the court of any wrongdoing, said he would “not take the matter lying down”.

Speaking to Limpopo Mirror at a car wash at Sibasa, where he was washing his car after it was handed back to him by the police, Mr Vhutshilo Tshikororo said he would never forget the incident which left his close friend, Musiiwa Makungo, dead. The incident happened at a spot not far from Thohoyandou Technical High School.

“We were in a celebratory mood at around 23:00, driving from Thohoyandou in Block F, when I noticed that we were being followed by an unknown vehicle after passing the school,” said  Tshikororo. He said they had seen a car parked under trees in the dark just at the crossing to the school and they had not suspected anything.

"All of a sudden, we could see that a car was chasing after us and I had to accelerate because I feared that we would be hijacked,” he said. They then heard gunshots and the falling of broken glass behind them.

"I realised that we were being shot at and saw that my friend was critically wounded. I stopped and the police hit  me all over the body, and that was when I told them that they had shot my friend," he said.

According to him, the incident has left him traumatised, and there was no way that he would leave the matter as it stood. He intends to sue the police. "We are law-abiding citizens. These police do as they wish and shoot at innocent people. My friend is gone now for nothing.”

Limpopo Mirror saw the vehicle at the carwash. Blood stains all over the passenger’s seat and a shattered back window are evidence of the traumatic experience. Tshikororo’s Corsa Lite was released by the police from the police vehicle pound after investigations did not produce any evidence to charge him with the crime that the police claimed he was plotting to commit.

Apparently, the police thought Tshikororo and his friend were planning to bomb ATM machines in Thohoyandou. Tshikororo said he was nowhere near the banks on that fateful night.

The incident, which occurred on New Year's Eve, was kept a closely guarded secret by the police. The surviving victim was also overwhelmed with fear until members of the community intervened and advised him to tell his story to the world.

Thohoyandou police spokesperson Const Avhafarei Tshiovhe confirmed the incident and said the police had acted on tip-off that there were people who wanted to blow up ATMs at one of the banks in Thohoyandou. She confirmed that charges against Tshikororo had been dropped and that the Independent Police Investigative Unit (IPIU) was investigating charges of murder against the police.

IPIU spokesman Moses Dlamini said they were investigating the case but no one had been arrested so far.