He was 16 years old. Although his mother was informed of his death on Tuesday morning, reports given to the media on Wednesday said police could not reveal the youth’s name because his next-of-kin had not yet been informed. There is further dispute about the circumstances in which he died. By yesterday police were still telling the press they could not release the name of the deceased.
Major Reg Crewe of the Police Public Relations division said the youth’s name would be made known after his next-of-kin had been traced. He said the deceased’s family lived in a squatter camp and were difficult to trace. However, the youth’s mother, Maria Phiri, said she had been informed about the death of her son at 11 am on Tuesday when police fetched her from her place of employment. Hours after the boy’s death the police told Phiri her son was one of a group of schoolchildren arrested earlier on Tuesday. ”They fetched me from work on Tuesday morning and took me to the Carletonville mortuary to identify his body.”
Phiri’ s arrest came in the wake of violence last weekend between youths and a vigilante group known as the ”Russians”, who activists claim are working with police. After clashes on the weekend a number of youths were arrested. According to the police unrest report arsonists caused extensive damage to three private houses, two of them the homes of policemen. Phiri’s family say they believe that he was among a group of schoolchildren who were picked up by police after marching on the Carletonville police station demanding the release of their colleagues.
A police statement released after Phiri’s death, however, said he had been arrested on suspicion of arson and had died during interrogation at the Welverdiend police station. Phiri’s mother, however, says she was told a different story. ”They told me that on arrival at the Carletonville police station, they found him unconscious at the back of the van. When· they looked further they found he was dead,” she said. ”They said he had collapsed.”
Speaking in her tiny shack in the township of Khutsong near Carletonville, she said she was however sceptical about this version. ”I don’t believe the police because when I saw my son there was blood on his mouth and nose. How could this be if he had collapsed?” ”They said I could consult a doctor if I didn’t believe their version, but when I said I had no money they said it was up to me.” ”They also said they would take him to a pathologist in Johannesburg, but I didn’t believe them. I think they just wanted to keep me quiet. ”They also said I must keep this death to myself. They said ‘we know that after talking to you you will go out and spoil our reputation.”
The youth’s grieving grandmother, Anna Mathlaba, said he was ”a very quiet person, always very respectful and well-behaved. But the police were always coming here looking for him. Mathlaba said when they went to the mortuary to fetch his clothes, they were told that the youth’s funeral must be held on a weekday: ”They said people dying in these circumstances must be buried during the week and not the weekend.”
Khutsong residents say there are at least nine other youths still in detention. They also claim that two other children, including an eight year-old, died in clashes between youths and police, but this could not be confirmed.
This article originally appeared in the Weekly Mail.
