Macia's documents handed over to family

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Pretoria - The Department of Home Affairs on Tuesday confirmed that it has handed over the death certificate and travel documents of Mozambican national and taxi driver, Emidio Macia, to his family.

Macia died last week after being dragged by a police van and then allegedly beaten to death in Daveyton, Gauteng. In an amateur video that has since gone viral on YouTube, Macia is seen tied to the back of a South African Police Service (SAPS) vehicle and dragged down the street.

He was allegedly dragged from the police van for about 400m. He later died in police custody.

“The documents were handed over to members of the bereaved family who visited our offices in the East Rand on Monday [4 March 2013]. Both the death certificate and travel documents were necessary to enable the family to travel across the border to Mozambique to give Emidio a decent funeral, scheduled for this weekend,” Home Affairs spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa said.

Additionally, Home Affairs announced that it will be providing members of his taxi association, who may wish to travel to Mozambique for the funeral, with the necessary travel documents.

“The handing over of the death certificate and other relevant travel documents to the Macia family follows a meeting held over the weekend between officials of the Department of Home Affairs and members of the bereaved family and in consultation with the Mozambican Embassy in Pretoria,” said Mamoepa.

Meanwhile, the City of Ekurhuleni has committed to helping with the transportation of the body and burial of Macia.

“We have engaged with the family and after listening to their grievances, we have concluded that as a humanitarian gesture, the city cannot just fold its arms when there is a family in distress in the area.

“We have therefore decided to facilitate and assist in the transportation and burial of the deceased through the mayoral discretionary funds,” said mayoral spokesman Zweli Dlamini.

Since Macia’s death, eight policemen have since been arrested and are due to appear in court for a second time on Thursday. – SAnews.gov.za