SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLD Soweto school pupil Thato Mokoka was buried in Soweto on Sunday after he was shot dead allegedly by a police officer last Tuesday.

The teenager, who was unarmed and possibly posed none or little danger to the armed officers, was shot five times at close range.

Spine-chilling reports suggest that he was shot while being pinned to the ground pleading his innocence.

It is said that police were looking for a gun allegedly used by a gang, to which Thato belonged.

Thato's family, who witnessed the shooting have been going through hell trying to understand what could have happened. They buried their son while still facing many unanswered questions.

Although it would be hard to condone the fracas that ensued at Thato's funeral which was marred by disruptions, one would understand the anger the mourners displayed, demanding answers from the police. Some youths even called on the community not to trust the police.

The dust had hardly settled when news broke of another killing, at the hands of the police, in Ekurhuleni. Rean Ramdin was shot at the weekend, reportedly after he tried to flee from the police.

His family claim police never bothered to inform them of the turn of events. Members of the family had to make the grim discovery of his body at a mortuary, after a search at police stations, friends and hospitals.

According to a police version of events, they had arrested Ramdin for possession of drugs. He was handcuffed and put into a police vehicle but had somehow managed to escape. He was shot dead after he ignored two warning shots fired by officers to try and get him to stop.

The police's account of events will now be the subject of the Independent Complaints Directorate, an institution tasked with investigating brutality and other atrocities by the men in blue.

The Mokoka family also has to pin its hopes on a similar probe. They will be hoping that the investigation would yield answers and that in the end justice would be done.

But the ICD told Sowetan last week that while it had commenced investigations, they were worried that police took too long to inform them about what had happened to Thato.

We wonder why the police station in Soweto failed to report the matter to the ICD within the stipulated one hour.

It is important that the police regain the trust communities once had in them. They need it if the public is to help fight crime. But for that to happen police need officers to stop being a law unto themselves and play by the book.