Mother can’t afford to bury her son, found dead days after police arrested him
“There is no evidence that his death was due to police action” says IPID
On Monday 10 June, police told the family of Sipho Mpinda, a 22-year-old man with intellectual disability, that he had been found dead. On the previous Thursday, Sipho had been arrested at Khayelitsha shopping mall and detained at Lingelethu West cells. He was released without being charged.
When GroundUp first reported on the death, Lieutenant Colonel Andrè Traut of SAPS Western Cape Media Centre said that after the family reported Sipho missing, “all endeavours by police to locate him were unsuccessful, and his body was discovered at the morgue the next day. He was allegedly involved in a culpable homicide [hit-and-run] accident ”.
Nobuhle Mpinda, Sipho’s sister, said she has no idea why her brother would be on Swaartklip Road, where it is alleged he was hit.
She said Lentergeur police and Lingelethu West police gave conflicting accounts of the accident.
Mpinda said: “We [the family and local residents] are confused because Lingelethu police said it was a hit-and-run accident, but a Lentergeur detective said the driver hit Sipho and stopped before calling the police to the scene.”
She said the detective told them that the driver said he checked Sipho after hitting him and noticed that he had injuries but he was not bleeding.
“That the injuries were not bleeding shows that they were not fresh as they occurred before the accident,” she said.
The family believe Sipho was beaten by police. Residents protested outside Lingelethu West police station after they heard the news of Sipho’s death.
A source at the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) said its investigators were present when the autopsy was conducted at Tygerberg Forensic Pathology Services. “Preliminary findings confirm the cause was consistent with motor vehicle incident,” said the source, quoting from the autopsy report.
IPID spokesperson Moses Dlamini said a preliminary investigation had “established that Mr Mpinda was run over by a truck belonging to the City of Cape Town”. The City referred GroundUp back to the police.
“At this stage there is no evidence that his death was due to police action. As a result the docket will be handed back to the SAPS for further investigation,” said Dlamini.
“The allegations of beating have not been corroborated by witnesses or [CCTV] footage. In such matters, it is important to follow evidence,” he said.
Dlamini said IPID would only investigate Mpinda’s death “if there was police misconduct in the arrest and release of the deceased”.
Sipho had been arrested on suspicion that he was trying to break into a car, but the owner of the car, Loyiso Feke, said he had left Sipho, who had accompanied him to the mall, to wait beside the car.
“Wrongful arrest is a civil matter. IPID only investigates criminal matters,” said Dlamini.
Western Cape police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Andrè Traut said: “Both our criminal and departmental investigations are underway and the outcomes of these investigations are yet to be determined.”
Family left destitute
“We wish the police officers could raise funds to help us to give my brother a decent and dignified funeral,” Nobuhle Mpinda told GroundUp. “My mom is worried sick about the funeral. She doesn’t even eat sometimes.”
Mpinda said her family, who live in Sika Le Khekhe informal settlement, have no money for the funeral. The family of seven were dependent on Sipho’s disability grant.
“Currently, we don’t even have money to buy tea for mourners who come to give us emotional support,” said Mpinda.
A woman, who knew the family from the Eastern Cape, bought groceries for them last week. “If she had not bought us the groceries, we would have nothing to eat now,” said Mpinda.
The family wishes to bury Sipho next week beside his father’s grave in Ngcobo, Eastern Cape, but they need thousands of rands to do this.
“Residents promised to put money together to pay the taxi driver, but we are not sure if they will all manage to produce the money because some of them don’t work,” said Mpinda.
Nobuhle Mpinda, sister of the deceased, Sipho Mpinda, in the family’s shack in Sika Le Khekhe informal settlement, Khayelitsha, told GroundUp that they have not heard from the police since angry residents protested outside Lingelethu West police station. Photo: Vincent Lali
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