Traffic officer’s assault of civilian on video
It shows the traffic officer slapping and shouting at the man before forcefully throwing him to the ground and then subduing him.
JANE FURSE – The Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality (MLM) has expressed shock and dismay at the video circulating on social media, depicting a municipal traffic officer assaulting and manhandling a member of the public.
The video surfaced on social media platforms on Sunday.
It shows the traffic officer slapping and shouting at the man before forcefully throwing him to the ground and then subduing him.
The official was on duty when the incident happened. Mayor Minah Bahula has condemned the incident and has urged the municipal manager (MM) to act expediently and decisively on this matter and she expects feedback from her department soon.
“We wish to apologise to the public. The incident portrays a bad image and brings our municipality into disrepute. It is not like our municipality to behave like that. In our more than 20 years of existence as a local government, this is the first incident of this nature which not only belittles us, but also destroys our culture as the municipality,” Bahula said.
According to the MLM, the traffic official has been issued with a letter of intent to suspend pending the investigation and is required to provide the municipality with a full representation within the next 48 hours on why he should not be suspended.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance (DA) in Limpopo said it is deeply concerned by the attack. “In the video, it is not clear what transpired or what events led to the traffic officer’s reaction, but there is no circumstance that should warrant such heavy-handedness from a traffic officer on a member of the public. “The conduct displayed by the traffic officer in the video is simply unacceptable and not befitting of someone expected to uphold the rule of law. There is no justification for the traffic officer’s conduct whether the man assaulted in the video had transgressed or not,” said DA’s Katlego Phala.
The party called on MEC for community safety and transport, Mavhungu Lerule-Ramakhanya, and her department to carry out a full investigation into this incident and then sanction the traffic officer in question for his conduct. “The DA is committed to ensuring that there is accountability, especially in cases where officials abuse their power and exert unnecessary force on members of the public.”
