IT'S POLICE BRUTALITY
Policen in Francistown are investigating a shooting incident in which on-duty police officers shot and injured a 33-year old Zimbabwean illegal immigrant as she carried her six month-old baby on her back.
The woman, Sipho Ndlovu, is recuperating after a bullet was removed from her foot. She informed The Midweek Sun from her hospital bed that the shooting happened in the early hours of Wednesday last week at Selepa location while she was on her way to do some ‘piece jobs’ with her husband.“Along the way, we saw an approaching police vehicle and my husband ran away leaving me behind. As I ran behind him with my six months old baby strapped behind my back, I heard a gunshot and all of a sudden, my left leg became numb as I rolled over and fell on the ground.
The baby also fell heavily to the ground. A team of police officers then brought me to the hospital. I broke some bones in my legs,” she revealed, showing an x-ray with a bullet visible inside her sheen. The baby was also taken for tests the same day and later discharged. She revealed that since she was admitted in hospital, her baby whom she breast-feeds, has been living with the father as she is not allowed to be brought to hospital.Ndlovu’s current fear is that the police might defeat the ends of justice and deport her before she can seek justice concerning her shooting, which she says was a careless act by members of Botswana Police Service.
Police Senior Public Relations Officer Assistant Commissioner Witness Boseja confirmed the shooting incident but denied that it was the police who pressed the trigger. Instead, Boseja said that his office is still investigating a shooting incident in which police officers are alleged to have shot at an illegal female immigrant carrying a baby on her back. He declined to say what led to the shooting of the Zimbabwean woman or even mention the whereabouts of the baby she was carrying at the time she was shot at.
“What I can only confirm is that a middle-aged woman is alleged to have been shot at by police officers in Francistown. As for the baby and other related questions, I cannot answer you since the case is still under police investigations. The man who was accompanying the woman is also held in police custody helping police with further investigations, Boseja pointed out.According to an investigation carried out by The Midweek Sun, the husband of the shot victim has never been arrested and is still at home baby-siting his child whilst its mother is recovering.