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The police used teargas to disperse protesting Wits and University of Johannesburg students on Monday.
They traced and interviewed a student who reported being shot in the leg during the chaos.
IPID is now investigating the incident.
The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) says it will investigate the circumstances that resulted in the shooting of a 20-year-old student, allegedly by police officers during protests in Johannesburg on Monday.
According to police spokesperson Brigadier Vish Naidoo, a case of attempted murder had now been opened after the student was traced and interviewed on Tuesday.
35-year-old Mthokozisi Ntumba was shot by police during student protest in Johannesburg last week Hassan Isilow | 15.03.2021
JOHANNESBURG
Four police officers were arrested in Johannesburg on Monday in connection with the death of a man who was shot by police during a student protest last week.
The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) confirmed the arrests, saying the officers from the public order policing unit will appear in court this week.
“They are facing charges of murder, three charges of attempted murder and defeating the end of justice,” an IPID spokeswoman, Ndileka Cola, told local broadcaster Newzroom Afrika.
Mthokozisi Ntumba, 35, a bystander, was shot by police at close range with rubber bullets, leading to his death. He was not part of the demonstration being held by the students of Wits University in Johannesburg.
were arrested on Monday in connection with the death of bystander
Mthokozisi Ntumba, who was killed, allegedly when the officers fired rubber bullets during the Wits protests.
Ntumba had just come out of a doctor’s consulting rooms as seen in an edited CCTV footage of the incident which was shared on social media. It showed the 35 year old running away as a police Nyala pulled up and a number of officers disembarked with their firearms drawn.
The police officers who were arrested in connection with the death of Mthokozisi Ntumba in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on 17 March 2021. Picture: Neil McCartney
CCTV footage used to nab Mthokozisi Ntumba’s alleged killers
17 Mar 2021
Members of the South African Police Service (SAPS) fire rubber bullets at students during a protest in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, on March 10, 2021. - A passerby was shot dead on March 10, 2021 after South African police moved to disperse protesting students. (Photo by Michele Spatari/AFP)
Video footage will form the basis of the state’s case in prosecuting the four officers who allegedly killed Mthokozisi Ntumba, a bystander, during the heated student protests in Johannesburg last week. On Wednesday, at the Johannesburg magistrate’s court, Tshepiso Kekana, Boitumelo Motseothata, Madimetja Legodi and Victor Mohammed, made their first appearance after being nabbed on Monday for allegedly firing the fatal shots that killed Ntumba and severely wounded three other people.
Four police officers who made their first court appearance in the Johannesburg Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday in connection with Mthokozisi Ntumba’s death have been remanded and their bail application has been postponed to March 24.
Tshepiso Kekana, Cidraas Motseothata, Madimetja Legodi and Victor Mohammed, who are from the public order policing unit, were formally charged with murder, attempted murder and defeating the ends of justice after they were arrested by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate on Monday.
Ntumba (35) was shot and killed after he was caught in the crossfire during violent clashes between police and Wits University students in Braamfontein, last week, amid ongoing protests by students against the exclusion of academically deserving students who cannot register for this year because of outstanding fees.