DESPITE the fact that 15 KwaZulu-Natal police officers have been charged with murder, a decision has not yet been taken on whether they should be suspended or not.

This was said yesterday by police spokesperson Brigadier Phindile Radebe in the wake of the Independent Complaints Directorate's (ICD) arrest of 15 KwaZulu-Natal police officers for a fatal assault on a Hammarsdale, Mpumalanga, father in front of his 11-year-old son.

The officers had subsequently left the victim to die alongside the road.

Nhlanhla Lala Luthuli, 40, was with his girlfriend and their 11-year-old son when the members of the Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU) in Pinetown and a Tactical Response Team (TRT) from Inanda, KwaZulu-Natal raided their home on October 20.

ICD national spokesperson Moses Dlamini said the police were searching for a firearm allegedly stolen during a robbery at the home of a member of the CIU.

He said "no case of robbery had been opened".

The officer, who lived in the same township as Luthuli, had allegedly mobilised his colleagues to raid Luthuli's home because he suspected him of being responsible for the robbery at his house.

The police did not have a warrant for the raid. They allegedly arrived at his home at 2am and assaulted him until he was unconscious.

"They tried to resuscitate the deceased by pouring water on him, but they failed. They then took him in a police vehicle and dumped him alongside a road where he was found lying unconscious. He died on the way to hospital," Dlamini said.

"They appeared in the Hammarsdale magistrate's court on the same day and were each granted R5000 bail.

Their case was postponed to January 14 next year.

The officers involved are Captain Thulani Magagula, 49, Constables Emmanuel Vezi, 33, Patrick Mzobe, 35, and Phumlani Mkhize, 29, from the CIU, while those from the TRT were Constables SM Mthethwa, 23, TB Ngcobo, 24, SB Khomo, 29, LM Ngema, 24, AC Ngcobo, 25, SW Ndosi, 38, AL Ndlovu, 29, LN Mseleku, 33, M Duma, 33, AD Gumede, 33, and L Mseleku, 24.