Mr. Makua, who was carrying a weapon at the time, was thought to be one of the robbery suspects when the police member fired at him.
He was shot in his hand when the police member taking cover saw him approach with a weapon and crowbar in hand.

Earlier, Mr Makua accompanied the brother of Trident Tavern owner at Iraq to the police station to report a robbery in progress at the tavern.

Mr Makua and the Chinese business owner’s brother was told to go back to the tavern to observe what was happening while a strong police contingent was dispatched to the scene.

Upon their arrival at the scene around 20:00 Saturday evening, they found that around 15 police officers had already arrived and surrounded the building.

The building’s doors had been locked.

The brother of the business owner called him when the owner responded from inside the locked building.

Mr Makua offered to go and get a crowbar from his vehicle in order to break open the door and rescue the tavern owner.
Meanwhile officers on the scene took cover.

Mr Makua returned to the scene in the dark with a firearm and crowbar in hand.
One of the officers then fired a shot at him, wounding him in the hand.

He was taken to hospital where he was discharged shortly after.

Captain Khanyesile Zwane confirmed the incident but declined to furnish more details due to a pending Independent Police Investigative Directorate investigation, while the SAPS is investigating the robbery.

“Rumours that Mr Makua had been shot several times and seriously wounded is false,” she said.

FoFo Security is one of the town’s biggest security firms with close ties to the SAPS.