In yet another startling U-turn, WSU head of security Bulelani Xuma conceded on Tuesday that protesting students had posed no immediate danger to himself or campus residence manager Manelisi Mampana, who is facing murder charges for the death of third-year student Sisonke Mbolekwa.
He said this during a sitting of the commission of inquiry into the shooting of several WSU students, including Mbolekwa.
Though students were protesting, he said previously he had managed to enter the university campus in Mthatha on April 15 in an effort to rescue Mampana and his family but had ended up running away in fear for his life.
He also confirmed that despite students carrying stones and sponge mattresses which they used as shields, he and Mampana were both carrying firearms on the day of Sisonke’s death.
This was despite staff and students being prohibited from carrying firearms.
The 24-year-old Mbolekwa was shot dead amid a student protest at the university’s Nelson Mandela Drive campus on April 15.
Two other students, Lizwa Ndzumo and Ntando Gqetywa, were also shot and wounded.
Xuma, while under cross-examination from Gqetywa’s lawyer, Mnikelo Dalasile, on Tuesday, told the commission that private security company Ka-Myaluza Security Services had not been able to send in its reaction unit as it did not have capacity to deal with the protesting students.
The commission is probing several incidents of shooting involving students. including that of Sethu Ndamase, a 22-year-old female third-year medical student.
Dalasile revealed that Gqetywa had been shot in his right heel which indicated he was fleeing, not posing any danger to anyone.
“Were the students armed? he asked Xuma, who replied that they were carrying stones and sponge mattresses.
“And yourself and Mr Mampana, contrary to the school’s prospectus, you were armed.
“What we know for a fact is that some students were shot at by Mr Mampana. Were you both injured? [If no] So your life was not being threatened or put in danger?”
When Xuma said he felt his life was not in danger from someone “throwing a stone at me”, Dalasile argued that this meant Mampana’s life was also not in immediate danger from the students.
Instead, he told Xuma, “Mr Mampana who was armed with his firearm abused his powers and shot and killed a student. This means a student was shot without any provocation,” to which Xuma agreed.
Dalasile also asked when Mampana’s vehicle was set alight. Xuma said it was after the shooting incident.
Xuma also confirmed that as head of security he had not made formal statements about the shooting of the three students as well as the shooting of Ndamase on March 12.
Earlier, while under cross examination from lawyer Monde Nzima, who represents the SRC, Xuma was asked if he was aware of anyone arrested over Ndamase’s shooting.
Xuma responded that he had found out that a senior official of the Ka-Myaluza security company, Basil Knock, had been arrested though he was not privy to the charges against him.
Daily Dispatch
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