Civilians allegedly threatened before sustaining brutal beatings from Tshwane metro cops

A Pretoria man who claims to have been threatened and assaulted by Tshwane metro police department (TMPD) officers on the evening of October 2, has spoken out about the alleged ordeal.

Bheki Sheba said he was assaulted by at least eight TMPD officers with sjamboks at their impound lot when he went to retrieve his vehicle after it was impounded.

He said he and two of his colleagues, who had accompanied him to retrieve his vehicle, had been standing at the gate of the lot when a woman who received the payments for the impounded vehicles started threatening them.

“We were complaining to her about why the process was taking so long when she said we were complaining too much and were stressing her out. That was when she said they (the TMPD) were going to ‘fix’ us,” Sheba said.

They had asked a security guard on the premises to find out what the delay was as they had already been waiting for around 25 minutes.

“This was not the first time my vehicle was impounded. It has happened two other times and every time I go to get it, it takes less than five minutes,” he said.

Sheba said it was around 10 minutes after the woman went back into the office that the metro officers arrived.

“They just started beating us with sjamboks, even that lady joined in,” he said.

It was only after they had beaten him and his friends that he was allowed to enter the premises to pay for and retrieve his vehicle.

In a video circulated on social media, Sheba is seen shirtless with visible injuries from the beating and cuts across his face, arms, chest, abdomen and back.

TMPD spokesperson Senior Superintendent Isaac Mahamba confirmed they had launched an internal investigation into the incident which took place at the Vermeulen impound depot between 22:00 and 23:00.

“When we were informed of these allegations, we immediately instructed our internal affairs unit to investigate this matter further and determine the possibility of an internal disciplinary process,” he said.

Mahamba also said they would co-operate fully with the police watchdog’s Independent Police Investigative Directorate’s (Ipid) investigation.

“We have also secured an appointment with witnesses to obtain statements from them and we still encourage members of the public who might have witnessed the incident to contact TMPD on 083 657 2998 or Ipid. We will make sure that their identities are protected,” he said.

In a TV interview, Mahamba explained that they were yet to obtain statements from the officers who were involved in the assault as they were already on their “rest days”.

He also said that none of their officers were at any point, supplied with sjamboks.

“We did not, at any moment, supply our members with sjamboks. That will form part of the investigation,” Mahamba said.

Meanwhile, Ipid said it was working toward identifying the officers involved.

“We’re in the process of identifying the suspects,” Ipid spokesperson Grace Langa said.

However, the watchdog was yet to establish the exact number of metro police officers which were involved.

“It is not yet confirmed, but it is alleged that it could be plus-minus eight officers,” she said.

While speaking to Rekord, Sheba said at least 10 metro police officers were involved with the woman who threatened them and a “well-built” man being the two who stood out the most.

Langa also confirmed that while law-enforcement officers from other agencies could be seen on a video circulated on social media, they were only pursuing those attached to the TMPD.

She further said that Ipid had hoped that the officers in question would have already presented themselves to them to tell their side of the story as they ought to “understand the law very well”.

“Now we have to hunt them even though they know themselves,” Langa said, adding that they were hopeful that the officers would be found.