SIBASA - A huge crowd of angry protesters from Gaba Village handed a memorandum to the SAPS Vhembe Area Commissioner’s office in Sibasa on Friday, in protest of poor service at Tshaulu Police Station. The demonstration came after a 25-year-old youth, Tshifhiwa Mawelewele, was stoned to death in Gaba on June 10.

Protesters claim that the Tshaulu police were not doing enough about the case as the suspect was still moving around freely in the village.

The chairperson of Gaba CPF, who also led the march, Tshisamphiri Mmbulawa, said villagers needed the suspect to be arrested because they had concrete evidence about the murder. “When Tshifhiwa died, police arrested the suspect but we were surprised that he was released due to a lack of evidence. How can they say that there is lack of evidence while four eyewitnesses came forward to give evidence? We have enough evidence, but the Tshaulu police are not doing anything to bring the suspect to book. It seems as if the suspect is not arrested because he has a good relationship with the Tshaulu police. There is no one above the law and we need the suspect to be arrested because we condemn Tshifhiwa’s murder whole-heartedly. We have decided to proclaim our anger to the Area Commissioner because the police in Tshaulu are using delaying tactics in this case.”

The memorandum also urged the Area Commissioner to intervene in numerous murder cases in the Gaba village which have never been resolved by the Tshaulu police. The protesters also demanded that the investigation officer in the murder case of Tshifhiwa be relieved of his duties as they claim that he is incompetent. They requested the Area Commissioner to redeploy some of the incompetent police officers who have been working at the Tshaulu SAPS for more than 10 years.

Director Justice Tshisaphungo accepted the memorandum on behalf of Vhembe SAPS Area Commissioner Joseph Maepa. He said the Area Commissioner will study the memorandum and respond within 14 working days.

Supt Ailwei Mushavhanamadi of the Vhembe police confirmed that a suspect in Tshifhiwa’s murder case had been arrested and released due to a lack of evidence. “The villagers have brought more evidence and we have attached everything in the docket which has been forwarded to the Director of Public Persecutions (DPP) on the 4th of July for a decision. We will act on the instructions of the DPP as soon as the docket is returned to us. We request the villagers to be patient because we work according to our policies but we assure them that the matter is receiving serious attention. We will inform them of any development about this matter from time to time.”