Harare Police station which handled Garikai Mpala’s murder case. Photo by Nokubonga Yawa.
15 August 2012
Zimbabwean born Garikai Mpala has been stabbed to death, allegedly by two gangsters operating in Khayelitsha. The family was told by the Harare (Khayelitsha) police to bring the two suspects to the police station.
This prompted the family to accuse Harare SAPS of having connections with the gangsters.
36 -year-old Mpala was a handyman at a Cape Town company. He leaves behind three daughters, the eldest in grade one. He also leaves his wife who is a domestic worker in Cape Town. Mpala’s aunt told GroundUp that she was on her way to confront the two gangsters when community members expressed their concern, saying that it was too dangerous and that she should focus on organizing her nephew’s funeral.
The owner of a shebeen in Khayelitsha who refused to be named said, “Garikai was a regular customer, a very quiet guy and has never been involved in fights. On the day he was killed he was busy selling boiled eggs to supplement his income. I was serving customers inside the house when we heard noise coming from outside. Garikai went outside to see what was happening and a few minutes later, I heard he was stabbed and the two men who committed the crime had run away. Twenty minutes later, he was taken to Khayelitsha hospital where he died.” She also said that the police officer who oversees the shebeens in Khayelitsha rebuked her for being open at 20:00 at night, saying that this could have contributed to the tragedy.
Despite promises to respond to GroundUp’s questions, the Harare police failed to do so by publication time. SAPS Western Cape’s media liaison has also not responded to our emailed questions.