‘Cap a painful reminder’
A BLOOD-STAINED ANC cap and a cracked wristwatch are constant reminders of the death of Audrey Seema’s son, Lerato, during 2014 water protests in Mothutlung, North West.
The death of Lerato, 27, remains unsolved. He died hours after sustaining serious head injuries a day after two other people had been killed during the water protests in Mothutlung near Brits on January 13 2014.
At the time police said Lerato and his friend, Ngwako Baloyi, had been arrested on public violence-related charges.
“The men were put in a Nyala (police vehicle) that was heading to the police station.
One man managed to escape and the other one tried to escape but fell from the moving Nyala,” police spokesman Colonel Sabata Mokgwabone reportedly said at the time.
Hours later a distraught Seema found her son unconscious at Brits Hospital, “bleeding through his ears, nose and penis”.
“The nurses gave me this cap that was soaked in blood. The blood led me to believe that he was assaulted before he was pushed out of the moving Nyala. Police are lying that he fell out of the Nyala.
“They picked him outside the offices where he worked. They assaulted him and then pushed him out of the Nyala. His cap was never taken away as evidence,” Seema told Sowetan from her home in Mothutlung.
Her son Lerato was a staunch Christian and an electrical engineering graduate. He also worked as the ANC Youth League’s community liaison officer in Mothutlung.
“I’ll never find closure until someone takes responsibility for Lerato’s death. It’s painful not knowing how my son died.”
The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) told Sowetan this week that the matter has been referred for an inquest.
“The investigation has since been completed and was taken to the Director of Public Prosecutions for a decision who then decided that the case be submitted for an inquest.
“The case has therefore since been sent to GaRankuwa Magistrate’s Court for inquest proceedings. The mother of the deceased was notified of the latest development,” Ipid spokesman Robbie Raburabu said.