South African police charged with murder after 'execution'

Four South African police officers have been charged with murder after footage emerged of them shooting a man dead in Krugersdorp.

The graphic CCTV footage, obtained by South Africa's Sunday Times newspaper, shows the armed officers pursuing suspected criminal Khulekani Mpanza down a quiet suburban street on the outskirts of Johannesburg.

The suspect had reportedly been attempting to rob a nearby shop and fired the first shots at the officers, who returned fire from their van.

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Mpanza was struck in the arm and is seen lying injured and unarmed on the pavement when one of the officers walks up to him and shoots him in the chest. Another officer walks up to him and kicks him, before the other policeman shoots him in the head.

The footage has sent shockwaves through South Africa, with many arguing that the suspect no longer posed a threat to police and deadly force should not have been used.

"The one word that went through my mind as I watched this was that this is an execution," policing expert Dr Johan Burger told the newspaper. "It's not even a murder, it's absolute execution."

The police officers just stood there "waiting for him to die," said the victim's brother Mbonseni Mpanza."Yes, they might say he is a criminal, but why did they not arrest him?"

South Africa's Independent Police Directorate (IPD), which investigates alleged police abuses, told the BBC that the officers handed themselves in after the video was published yesterday.

"The footage again highlights the explosive relationship between cops and criminals in South Africa, where police are repeatedly accused of acting outside the law," says the Sunday Times.

The case comes less than two months after eight South African policemen were convicted of murdering a Mozambican taxi driver in 2013.

They were filmed tying 27-year-old Mido Macia to the back of their van by his arms before driving off. He later died in custody.

Officers insisted that Macia had fallen out of vehicle by accident and his handcuffs "accidentally hooked on to the back on the van".