The funeral was for a man who lost his life in a shootout with security guards during a cash-in-transit heist.
Two Eastern Cape women are facing a string of criminal charges after they were allegedly caught on camera giving a deceased friend a gun salute by firing shots in the air at his funeral just days after he died in a shootout with security cash guards in a cash-in-transit heist.
An undertaker is fighting for his life in hospital after he took a bullet to his upper body at the chaotic 15 October funeral.
The funeral of the 30-year-old Simthembile Mkhangeli took place at his ancestral home of Mcetywa Location, outside the rural Eastern Cape town of Tsolo.
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According to the Hawks, Mkhangeli was killed when guards from G4S, SBV and Fidelity were involved in a heavy exchange of gunfire with eight suspected robbers on the N2 highway between KwaBhaca and Mthatha on 2 October.
Arrest
Mkhangeli’s friends Bongo Yonela Dipa, 24, and Chumisa Phunguzwa, 35, are now in hot water after the Hawk’s Provincial Cash-In-Transit Task Team of the Serious Organised Crime Investigation unit identified them in the viral videos of the funeral.
The Hawks arrested the pair on Thursday and dragged it to the Tsolo Magistrate’s Court over allegations of unlawful discharge of firearm, possession of unlicensed firearm and attempted murder.
“The investigation revealed that the pair was among the people that were identified during the alleged incident. Moreover, a comprehensive investigation resulted in the execution of a warrant of arrest which was authorised hence the arrest of the duo on 30 November 2023,” said Hawks spokesperson Warrant Officer Ndimphiwe Mhlakuvana.
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The Tsolo Magistrate’s Court released the duo on R2 000 bail on Friday and the case has been remanded to 5 February 2024 for further investigation.
Mhlakuvana said a funeral parlour employee was injured due to the shooting incident.
A case docket was opened and transferred to the CIT task team of the Hawks for intensive investigation, said Mhlakuvana.
Viral videos
In the videos, which captured the dramatic funeral service, a well-organised team of heavily armed men and women can be seen doing the gun salutes with assault rifles and hand guns.