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Stuart Hess
WHEN Michael Wagenstroom senior was buried this week, just a handful of family and friends went to his funeral. The events leading up to his death, however, have shocked the Manenberg community on the Cape Flats.
The tale of Wagenstroom’s final days has also prompted an investigation by the police’s Independent Complaints Directorate. It is, says national complaints director Stephen Tiro, one of its priority cases.
The tale began on Sunday May 18 when Wagenstroom’s son, also Michael, arrived at the family home to spend the night. He was not welcome.
“My father was angry with my brother because he got himself involved with gangs,” says Wagenstroom’s 18-year-old daughter, Abigail.
Abigail says Wagenstroom senior called the police twice that night to sort out his son. When they failed to respond, “he became angry and was quite rude to them”.
An officer and two reservists from Manenberg police station arrived, and promptly arrested Wagenstroom senior – because he had sworn at them.
“When they took him away they were hitting him on the head,” Abigail says.”They dragged him out and threw him into the van, hitting him all the time.”
According to the family, the police then slammed the van’s door on Wagenstroom’s feet; he was lying down with his feet hanging out. The police dropped Wagenstroom at home the next day but clearly he “was not well”, Abigail says.
“There were scratches on his feet from when they slammed the door and he could not bath himself.”
The next day he fainted and was taken to GF Jooste Hospital. Later he was rushed to Groote Schuur Hospital where he went into a coma. He never woke up. He was 42.
A pathologist’s report suggests the cause of death was meningitis, but Lawyers for Human Rights are convinced Wagenstroom’s rough handling by the police played a role. Legal representative Carl Wesselink is pursuing the case with the complaints directorate. And Manenberg police are investigating an assault case against the three officers.
And the Wagenstroom family? The father, a part-time worker, supported five of them. Now they rely on their neighbours for help.
“He was a strict person who did not have a lot of friends but he loved all of us,” says Abigail. “They [the police] must be punished …”