SANDF members investigated after Alexandra man dies

The South African Police Service(SAPS) has confirmed that an investigation into the killing of a 40-year-old man in Alexandra township, north of Johannesburg, is underway.

It’s alleged that the man was beaten to death by South African National Defence Force(SANDF)  officials in his yard on Friday after accusing him of violating National lockdown regulations.

In an interview with Ynews, SAPS spokesperson Mathapelo Peters revealed that they are awaiting postmortem results and therefore unable to divulge further information. Peters also appealed to the media to exercise caution when reporting on incidents of brutally whilst investigations are still underway.

” This needs to be contextualized, the minister has said that IPID is investigating a number of cases that were opened against the police and in at least 3 incidents of alleged murder, police were cleared yet the figure keeps rising on the side of media. It’s important  to wait for IPID investigations to be concluded” said Peters.

Earlier in the month Minister of Defence Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula called on the SANDF to refrain from using excessive force against citizens, during the lockdown period. Mapisa-Nqakula’s call was prompted by the emergence of video’s of officials using unorthodox methods, such as frog marching, to discipline those who failed to comply with lockdown regulations. The country’s armed forces were deployed on Thursday 26 March at midnight for a period of three months,  to enforce the 21 day nationwide lockdown in an effort to curb the spread of Covid-19.