Police investigating man’s death during Pinetown liquor looting

The police have opened an inquest docket after a man allegedly died during a stampede outside a Pinetown liquor storage facility in a looting incident on Monday night.

On Tuesday KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson Col Thembeka Mbele said: “A group of people went to Wilshire Road in Mariannhill [near Pinetown] where they helped themselves to liquor dumped by the liquor outlet.

“It was reported the expired liquor was put outside after the outlet was cleaned and they were waiting to dispose of it. The community noticed the liquor and stormed the premises. Public order police together with local police dispersed the crowd after they became uncontrollable.”

She said during the stampede a 45-year-old man died at the scene and an inquest docket was opened for investigation at Mariannhill police station.

However, the man’s brother, Sakhile Mkhize, told TimesLIVE his brother Mfundo died after he was allegedly shot by the police during the incident on Monday night. He said his brother’s body had been taken to the mortuary and the police had not spoken to the family.

“My brother was not even inside the warehouse because he was shot outside the  premises,” he alleged.

A friend of the family, Gcina Khumalo, told TimesLIVE he was present when Mkhize was allegedly shot. 

Mbele didn’t immediately respond to allegations by the family that Mkhize had been shot by police. 

“Some of the employees are selling liquor to the community,” said Sakhile. “For R50 you were able to get a six pack of beer. The owners of the place were not bothered by that because the alcohol was ruined [expired] and they were about to destroy it.”

Andile Mtshali, who lives in Mpola, near KwaSanti, confirmed some employees were selling the expired alcohol.

“A while back we heard rumours that the owners of the liquor store had told some members of the community to visit them on Monday. They were going to give the alcohol to them. But yesterday I think a lot more people came than those who had been invited because chaos broke out and that is when the looting began,” said Mtshali.

A woman from KwaSanti who owns a fast food restaurant near the liquor storage facility told TimesLIVE she had heard the owners had planned to dispose of the alcohol because it had expired.

She said when she arrived on Tuesday, she found the area surrounded by police vehicles.

TimesLIVE