Think the Police are your friends? Think again

Last month residents of Mukuru slum witnessed the deaths of eight young men aged between 17 and 24. All eight were killed in a police crackdown in the slum. The police claimed that the eight were members of a gang that had been terrorizing the slum for a long time. They are alleged to have been involved in a robbery with violence which left one man dead. According to police reports, four guns were recovered from the eight.

However, the parents of the alleged criminals sang a different song; their children were no criminals and were wrongly killed by the police. At first I was willing to let the story go. After all, which sane parent can admit to their child being a criminal? But when the residents who were allegedly being terrorized by the eight supported the parents’ claims I became curious.