
The army said they were angered after one of their members got stabbed with a screwdriver.
The SANDF has in a statement admitted to shooting and killing 36-year-old Eunicent Dilebo in Bushbuckridge the past weekend, saying they had to after one of their own got stabbed with a screwdriver.
The deceased Dilebo was sitting in a car with his girlfriend Ntombifuthi Mlambo when SANDF members knocked on the window looking for him.
Ntombi herself said she was with her man Dilebo and two others in the car on Saturday night when SANDF members came to assault them badly, before shooting him.
The army said there had been chaos in the area, with large crowds of people dealing out mob justice on someone suspected of doing crime.
They say as law enforcers they were attacked and one of them injured.
Ntombi said they were ordered to get out of the car which had mechanical problems and during the beating of her man she was also beaten before she decided to run away…
“I then heard 3 gunshots behind me. I heard screams and walked back and realised that my boyfriend was on the ground, next to the car, and was covered in blood,” the pregnant Ntombi said.
While police investigations claim that the victim was carrying a firearm, the SANDF themselves said they shot him after one of their own was stabbed with a screwdriver. The incident happened at around 9 Saturday night in the Bushbuckridge area.
“He was shot during a confrontation with police and soldiers at Dingledale, Chochocho village,” army spokesman Captain Jaco Theunissen said.
Theunissen said they were helping the police disperse a large crowd of community members who were “meting out” mob justice to a suspect in the area.
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“During this, one member of the SANDF was stabbed with a screwdriver and another member of the community who was armed and found in a car was subsequently shot and killed by our members,” said Theunissen, adding the police are investigating the matter.
The victim was shot 3 times from the back when he tried to run away.
His brother Thabo Dilebo told the SABC they want a full report from the cops.
“We don’t even know what happened, what actually happened to him and what got to a point that they could shoot him and we don’t know what he did to a point that he had to be shot at.
“All I know about my brother is that he’s a good person, is a loving person and there was no way we would have wanted to fight. As I know he was shot in the back trying to run for his life,” said Thabo.
(edited by MLM)
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