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eventREF E-0121003Revised

Event record

Police constable is buried alive at Ackerville cemetery near Witbank

Date
31 May 1986
Updated
30 Sep 2019
Police constable is buried alive at Ackerville cemetery near Witbank

On 31 May, Constable S.H. Mandlazi was attacked by a crowd of people armed with spades at the Ackerville cemetery while he was attending the funeral of a friend, Mr Jimmy Brown. They buried him alive in a nearby grave. Mr Mandlazi was a resident of Ackerville based at the Witbank police station. The police spokesman from police headquarters in Pretoria reported that when the police arrived at the cemetery they dug the grave and found Mr Mandlazi’s body in a sitting position. He was already dead. The black members of security forces were targets of attacks by anti -apartheid militants in the political struggle. The killers of 150 South African police officers received amnesty. Mandlazi Solomon was one of those police officers killed.

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How we know this

  1. 01Saldru clippings collection, Constable buried alive at the funeral, Black politics 1986d
  2. 02 Amnesty given to cop killers, 16 May 2006, url number https://www.southafricanpoliceofficersmemorial.com/amnesty-for-cop-killers.html Date accessed: 18 /05/2016

Last updated · 30 Sep 2019

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2016, May 23). Police constable is buried alive at Ackerville cemetery near Witbank. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0121003

South African History Online (2016) 'Police constable is buried alive at Ackerville cemetery near Witbank', South African History Online, 23 May. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0121003 (Accessed: 3 August 2026).

South African History Online, Police constable is buried alive at Ackerville cemetery near Witbank [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0121003, (accessed 3 August 2026).

"Police constable is buried alive at Ackerville cemetery near Witbank." South African History Online, 23 May 2016, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0121003. Accessed 3 Aug. 2026.

South African History Online. "Police constable is buried alive at Ackerville cemetery near Witbank." South African History Online. May 23, 2016. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0121003.

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