Businessman catches suspect himself
USOMABHIZINISI waseMlazi, uMnuz Sgwili Mkhwanazi uthi usizwe ukuphuma ayozifunela yena isigebengu esimbambe inkunzi samphuca isibhamu njengoba egcine esibambile Isithombe: THOKOZANI NDLOVU USOMABHIZINISI waseMlazi, uMnuz Sgwili Mkhwanazi uthi usizwe ukuphuma ayozifunela yena isigebengu esimbambe inkunzi samphuca isibhamu njengoba egcine esibambile Isithombe: THOKOZANI NDLOVU
Durban - An Umlazi businessman, frustrated by police inaction, caught and detained a suspect in a container in Umlazi to teach him a lesson.
Sgwili Mkhwanazi, 52, who owns a supermarket and butchery in Umlazi, said he went on a mission to catch the suspect, a 16-year-old who stole his gun, after police failed to intervene.
Recounting what happened on October 5, Mkhwanazi said: “The suspect came into my house wielding a gun and demanded that I give him whatever was in the safe, which was my gun and some documents. He held me at gunpoint, so I just handed over whatever was in there.
“I recognised the suspect as someone who lived in the community. I had actually taken him under my wing, but you can’t fight someone pointing a gun at you,” he said.
Mkhwanazi said that he went to open a case of burglary at Umlazi V section police station.
He said the police did nothing to help him after reporting the matter.
On the night of October 18, Mkhwanazi was burgled, and he suspected it was the same person and his friends.
“They stole my clothes, a plasma TV and R3 300. That same night, I called the investigating officer, telling her that I had being burgled, and she told me that I shouldn’t call her so late at night because I am going to get her into trouble with her husband,” said Mkhwanazi.
Fed up with the inaction, he left his home in the early hours of Friday morning and went to KwaMashu to look for the suspect.
“I went from tavern to tavern buying beers and speaking to the locals until they told me where to find his family. I went to his uncle, who helped me look for him,” he said.
The suspect’s uncle helped him locate the house where the suspect was found sleeping.
“When I found him, I called the investigating officer to tell her I had caught him, but she told me she couldn’t help me because she didn’t work on weekends.”
Mkhwanazi then took the suspect back to Umlazi, where he handcuffed him and threatened to call the police if he didn’t tell him where his gun was. The suspect then confessed to taking the gun.
When the Sunday Tribune visited Mkhwanazi at midday on Saturday, the suspect was still in the container, weeping and proclaiming his innocence.
“I will release him – I just wanted to teach him a lesson. I want to name and shame him. I have opened about 150 cases, and I have never been helped by the police. That is why I went to look for him myself. I am tired of these criminals.”
Mkhwanazi released the suspect into his parents’ care on Saturday night.
“He promised to help me find the stolen goods, so I released him,” he said.
“Why does it have to come to this? Why must we catch criminals ourselves?”
Police spokesman Captain Thulani Zwane said that people shouldn’t catch crime suspects, because it was dangerous.
“What if the suspect was armed? Rather call the police once you have information.”
Zwane said if Mkhwanazi had detained him any longer, he would have been charged with kidnapping.
Sunday Tribune