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.
eventREF E-0121003Revised
31 May 1986
Police constable is buried alive at Ackerville cemetery near Witbank
- Updated
- 30 Sep 2019
How we know this
- 01Saldru clippings collection, Constable buried alive at the funeral, Black politics 1986d
- 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
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: 21 October 2026).
South African History Online, Police constable is buried alive at Ackerville cemetery near Witbank [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0121003, (accessed 21 October 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 21 Oct. 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.
Also on 31 May
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- 1989Samuel Tshabalala becomes the first black athlete to win the Pietermaritzburg-Durban Comrades Marathon
- 1994South Africa is said to resume its membership of the Commonwealth
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