A Hawston diver was shot and killed in Buffels Bay, Cape Point Nature Reserve last week.
The family is demanding justice, fearing the circumstances surrounding his death will never be fully investigated.
According to an eyewitness, a group of divers was waiting for a boat to take them back to Hout Bay when they noticed reserve rangers pointing firearms at them and threatening to shoot. The divers reportedly responded by rolling rocks down the hill to prevent the rangers from reaching them.
Diver Roger ‘Church’ van der Westhuizen, who was wounded and underwent emergency surgery last week, said he was shot when he ran towards Duncan Hanekom, who was shot and killed. He insisted the situation had been calm at the time.
“Nobody was throwing stones at that point. I just felt a bullet hitting me,” he recalled.
Van der Westhuizen’s mother, Eva Witbooi, fears the incident will be swept under the rug and that her family will never see justice.
“He was shot by the police years ago, but nothing ever came of it because the bullet allegedly went missing. I don’t know what’s going to happen to us now because he is the only breadwinner for his four kids and me,” she said.
Commander of the provincial police communications department, Lieutenant Colonel FC van Wyk, confirmed that Simon’s Town SAPS was investigating charges of murder and attempted murder.
“Three firearms belonging to the park rangers were taken in as exhibits and for further processing. The investigation continues. Seven suspects were arrested for the illegal possession of abalone,” he said.
Relatives of one of the suspects said an attempted murder charge was added to the charge sheet shortly before the men appeared in court last week. They are expected to apply for bail on Friday.
“How can they be charged with attempted murder if they were only throwing stones? And how is it that live rounds were fired at them if the officers’ lives were not in imminent danger? I think the attempted murder charge is just a ruse to take the heat off the officers,” one relative alleged."
Shahieda Hanekom, the deceased’s cousin, said the family was devastated by his death.
“He just went to earn a living for his family. Now his 13-year-old son has to grow up without a father.”
Hawston resident Isaac Claasen said the priority was to secure justice for the families and prevent a repeat of the unrest following the death of Steven ‘Sai’ Figaji in 2012. At the time, angry residents blocked the R43 with burning tyres after an altercation between authorities and divers.
“People are angry because it’s not the first time a life was lost as a result of alleged law-enforcement brutality,” he said.
Claasen acknowledged that poaching was a crime but said it had become a means of survival for many in a community plagued by unemployment and desperate to provide for their families.
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