Police shot two people dead when they opened fire on a crowd gathered at an overturned truck near Bizana.
Five officers armed with pump action shotguns fired on more than 100 people while they were gathering up 25kg bags of rice and 10kg bags of sugar from the crashed truck on the R61 between Port Edward and Bizana.
The incident took place around 9am on Tuesday.
Mhlope Cele, 34, and Silindile Ndzimakhwe, 18, were declared dead at the scene. Two critically injured victims – Zoleka Nzama, 34, and Sipho Te, 37, needed urgent surgery to injuries to their chests and abdomen.
They were rushed to the Nelson Mandela Central Hospital (NMCH) formerly the Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital in Mthatha with two others, Akhona Mbele, 18, from Cingweni village and Nomthandazo Mpofana, 45, who lives in Seaview village.
About 11 other injured people were admitted to St Patrick’s Hospital, Madiba Clinic and Port Shepstone hospital.
Health spokesman Sizwe Kupelo confirmed that three women and one man were admitted with gunshot wounds at NMCH.
“Two patients underwent emergency operations and two others are in a stable condition. One goes to theatre soon. They are being treated for gunshot wounds.”
Speaking to the Daily Dispatch from their hospital beds, Mpofana and Mbele said scores of villagers had rushed to the scene after word spread about the overturned truck.
They said a scuffle broke out when villagers accused the officers of wanting to loot the truck themselves.
Mpofana was shot seven times in her left leg. Mbele has two gunshot wounds in his right arm and three in his chest and abdomen.
An unemployed widow and mother of three, Mpofana said police had initially instructed people to offload the packets of rice and sugar in an attempt to clear the road.
“I did not get anything because I went to sit on the roadside when the bags ran out,” she said, adding that moments later gunshots had rung out. Mpofana claimed police from the Mzamba cluster opened fire and had to be stopped by their colleagues from Port Shepstone.
“My heart aches. All I am asking for is [compensation for my injuries]. It won’t help me if they are arrested,” she said.
Mbele, a Grade 10 pupil at Marina Comprehensive School, denied police claims that the crowd pelted them with stones or kidnapped a worker from the truck company.
“This was not the first time a truck has overturned,” he said. “Police normally take first and then give us our chance.”
Provincial police spokeswoman Brigadier Marinda Mills said five officers had fired on the crowd with pump action shotguns.
She said they did not have rubber bullets. “[The incident] will be investigated by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate,” she added.
Residents, political parties and even the Police, Prisons and Civil Rights Union (Popcru) likened the incident to the Marikana massacre. Popcru provincial chairman Loyiso Mdingi said there was no justification for the officers firing without provocation or threat to their lives.
“It is even worse that this was just the looting of a truck.
“Yes, it’s a crime they were committing, but picking up rice does not mean they had to be killed,” said Mdingi.
Resident Mzamo Dlamini said the spilled goods could not be sold anyway.
“It is usual for people to clean up in that way.
“They were killed for being hungry. This is Marikana number two,” he said.
Mbizana local municipality mayor Makhaya Twabu said he was left feeling “bitter” by the incident and would demand a full police report.
ANC provincial secretary Oscar Mabuyane extended his party’s condolences to the families.
However, he condemned both the looters’ behaviour and that of the “trigger happy” police.
“It can’t be right that police do not have any better systems to disperse a troubling crowd,” he said.
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