Mancoba: 4 of 7 killed by cops innocent

The mother of the “Seven Angels” has been having sleepless nights and claims not to have eaten for the week since three of her sons were killed in a police raid.

The 56-year-old Noluvo Mancoba, who co-founded the controversial Angels Ministry Church with her late husband Siphiwo, has slammed the police version of events that they retaliated after shots were fired at them by suspects hiding out inside the church. Seven people were shot and killed when police raided the church last Friday. Luzuko Mbedu, Thandazile Mancoba, Xolisa Mancoba, Philile Mancoba, Loyiso Dlambulo, Vumile Kwele and Siyasanga Mfazwe were killed on Friday by the police task team.

They were suspected of carrying out an attack on the Ngcobo police station two days earlier, which resulted in the death of five officers and an off-duty soldier.

Mancoba claimed the police fired “hundreds” of rounds without warning the minute they pulled up at the church gates.

The church was run by the seven Mancoba brothers, three of whom were killed in the raid.

The grieving mother said four of the seven were innocent people in the attack, including her two sons Philile and Xolisa.

A visibly emotional Mancoba, who kept her eyes closed for most of the interview, while every now and then looking to the ceiling as if she was praying, claimed four of the seven were innocent victims.

“Even the three whom they found with pistols never fired any shots.

“All we heard from the start to the end of the shooting were sounds of automatic rifles.

“The soldiers who were wearing camouflage were carrying those automatic rifles,” she told the Daily Dispatch from her Ngcobo home yesterday.

Asked whether she also believed her sons were criminals, she said: “Thandazile and his gang were apparently feared in this area but the other four killed that night, including my sons, were innocent.”

She said Thandazile found it difficult to follow the rules of the church and on two occasions had disappeared without a trace.

“He would say we were holding him back here. There are things he couldn’t do inside these premises, so at the friends’ places anything was possible but not in my yard.”

Mancoba believes the only “sins” of the four deceased were being members of the church.

“That is their sin, because the government hates this church very much.

“Whenever I think about that evening, I struggle to sleep at night. I have not eaten anything since that evening,” she said.

Mancoba said when she tried to go outside and investigate, she was pushed back inside the room and ordered to remain there by police.

“I felt so violated in my own home.

“They were in my room tossing everything upside down, in my kitchen and lounge,” she said.

“My house was full of strangers going up and down and I was treated as if I did something wrong.”

Hawks national spokesman Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said: “The matter is under investigation and we are not going to engage in any public spats.”

But the police union Popcru said the force used by their members was proportionate to the danger they were facing.

“Everything that was done by our members happened within the scope of their duties and we believe that one cannot choose a person who is firing from one who is not firing when you face fire from the same direction. The mother is grieving it is natural for her to speak that way,” Popcru secretary Zamikhaya Skade said.