Still no justice for dead construction worker
More than a year after Melikhaya Pisane’s death, police investigation stalled
More than a year after the death of construction worker Melikhaya Pisane during a strike at Good Hope Construction, no arrests have been made.
Pisane died on 14 May 2015 when violence broke out between the strikers and the security guards during a strike which went on for five weeks. The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has claimed that he was killed by a security guard, but Good Hope Construction director Raziek Rajah has said the gates were closed and the security guards were inside during the march to the site.
The company was involved in building a school in Kraaifontein.
In March, GroundUp reported that spokesperson for the Western Cape South African Police Services Captain Frederick van Wyk said there were no new developments in the case and no arrest had been made.
Three months later his reply was the same: “Please be advised that the case is still under investigation. No arrests have yet been made.”
He would not elaborate on the investigation.
But investigating officer Thandisizwe Rapiya said he had been told by a witness that Pisane had been stabbed, not by security guards or by a protester, but by an outsider. He has not been able to identify the assailant.
“I have gone to the community but no one in the community is coming forward, and that is the problem we face – community people do not speak to the police,” said Rapiya.
NUM regional organiser Benson Ngqentsu said Pisane had been a member of NUM for three years before his death. Asked whether the union was following up on his death, Ngqentsu said: “We made a statement calling on the police to accelerate the investigation and voicing our concerns regarding the matter.”
Ngqentsu referred GroundUp to NUM regional manager Patrick Sengisa, who said he had visited the Kraaifontein police station last month to find out about the case.
“We took the initiative and went to the police station last month but we found that those people do not care. They say they have done all they could. We left our details so they could call us but no one has called.
“They are not taking the case seriously,” said Sengisa.
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