Angry mob nearly kills traffic officer

A 40-year-old traffic officer nearly lost his life when community members of Mushongoville in Musina bayed for his blood and assaulted him. This happened after he had allegedly shot and killed a 25-year-old man in the street.

According to police reports, the officer, Mr Titus Mugwena, was driving in his black Dodge Calibre when he noticed a group of people blocking the road at around 00:00 on 14 November. He reportedly asked them to get out of the road so that he could pass.

The people, however, started arguing with him. He stepped out of the car and a fight ensued.

“The suspect went back to his car and took out a firearm and fired a warning shot,” the spokesperson for the Musina police, Const Dakalo Ramagwede, said. “All the other people ran
away, but one man remained behind and continued fighting with him.”

During the fight, the suspect allegedly shot the man and he died at the scene. The deceased was later identified as Thapelo Machete.

After this incident, members of the community apparently chased Mugwena and assaulted him severely. The police managed to rescue him from the wrath of the angry community. “He was arrested and detained at the police station,” Ramagwede said. “He was later taken to the hospital as he had been assaulted by community members.”

The community eventually set the officer's car on fire.

Mugwena appeared in the Musina Magistrate's Court on Monday, where he was granted R2000 bail.

He will appear again in court on 3 December.

Date:21 November 2014

By: Tshifhiwa Mukwevho

Tshifhiwa Given Mukwevho was born in 1984 in Madombidzha village, not far from Louis Trichardt in the Limpopo Province. After submitting articles for roughly a year for Limpopo Mirror's youth supplement, Makoya, he started writing for the main newspaper. He is a prolific writer who published his first book, titled A Traumatic Revenge in 2011. It focusses on life on the street and how to survive amidst poverty. His second book titled The Violent Gestures of Life was published in 2014.

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