Picture: Ichigo121212/Pixabay Picture: Ichigo121212/Pixabay
Johannesburg - A family of an Alexandra man has been demanding answers following his alleged death while in police custody.
Family of the 34-year-old man have vowed not to bury him before getting answers about what happened on the day he died.
Webster Matsetela was allegedly “assaulted and died in police custody” at the Norwood, Joburg, police station following his arrest on December 26, after a scuffle between him and a group of men on the street where they were drinking.
His family said they were told he had hanged himself with part of a blanket in his cell. But they claimed that on identifying his body, they found his face swollen and some of his teeth missing.
The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) confirmed to have received a report from the police and investigations were under way.
Spokesperson Sontaga Seisa said: “We did receive a report of a death in police custody in Norwood SAPS cell in the last week of December where the deceased Webster Matsetela allegedly committed suicide. Our investigation is ongoing and nobody has been arrested,” he said.
Seisa, however, did not comment on the whereabouts of the men who opened a case against Matsetela.
His niece Nthabiseng Matsetela said: “The people who were at the scene said the men started the scuffle and pointed a gun at Webster who went to open a case against them at the Sandringham police station.
"However, when the police came to arrest them, they told the police it was Webster who pointed a gun at them,” she said.
Nthabiseng said police did not find a gun on Webster and never went to his house to search for it.
On the same day, Webster was transferred from the Sandringham police station to Norwood police station.
On December 27, the family went to Norwood after hearing rumours that Matsetela was dead.
“When we got there we asked for the date of his appearance in court. The police told us he was appearing on Monday but never mentioned his death.
“When we asked about the rumour, the police just said, ‘Oh that one who hanged himself'."
“We were shocked if we had never asked, they were not going to tell us. They were going to bury him themselves,” said Nthabiseng.
Webster's father Johannese Matsetela said when they went to identify his body at the mortuary in Hillbrow, his face was swollen, his teeth were missing and he had scratches all over his body.
“They did something to him and no one wants to give us answers. Webster was too tall to hang on a steel butler door,” he said.
He added they were denied a chance to see him at the mortuary but only saw him on a computer screen as post-mortem tests were in process.