The Tshwane metro police are considering rolling out body cameras on officers to deal with allegations of wrongdoing.

The department has been inundated by 255 complaints about their officers this financial year alone.

Cases being investigated include anything from ‘cooldrink money’ (bribery) to intimidation, robbery, corruption, extortion and kidnapping, either on- or off-duty.

Poor conduct had led to consultations within the administration to determine the need for security enhancements to improve trust with the local policing force, according to metro police spokesperson Superintendent Isaac Mahamba.

“We are still looking into the use of body cameras, but we have not yet finalised these talks,” says Mahamba.

No dismissals despite several cases

This week alone, a TMPD officer was among eight people who were arrested for common robbery by the Hawks’ Serious Corruption Investigation team. Five others were police officials.

The charges included armed robbery and kidnapping, according to provincial police spokesperson Colonel Philani Nkwalase.

All the suspects appeared in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday and the case was postponed to Tuesday for bail consideration.

The court appearance followed an armed robbery on June 14.

“It is alleged that 10 suspects, of which two were dressed in full police uniform, committed a robbery at a residence of a businesswoman in Malvern, Johannesburg,” says Nkwalase.

“The armed suspects allegedly forced entry into the premises, threatened the occupants and demanded money and cellular phones.”

Nkwalase says they searched the house, forcefully opened the complainant’s banking app and ordered her to release R200 000 from her business account.

He adds that the bank refused to release the amount on such short notice.

“The suspects then drove with her to the bank to withdraw some money from her savings. They also told her to get more money from her relatives. The businesswoman allegedly lost around R83 000 during the robbery.”

Allegations of assault

In another case, 39-year-old Molefe Tsoku claimed to have been assaulted by TMPD officers on May 29.

The alleged assault took place on Kgosi Mampuru Street near the correctional services prison.

Tsoku claimed he was pulled over while driving for a local logistics company by officers who became hostile, physically assaulted him and proceeded to pepper spray him.

According to Molefe, he videotaped the incident, but the footage was allegedly deleted by the officers.

Ipid spokesperson Robbie Raburabu said that an assault case had been reported to them and was being investigated.

AfriForum’s private prosecution unit claimed in a statement that three TMPD officers, who appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court in June on extortion, robbery, kidnapping and intimidation charges, remained serving as officers in the local policing unit.

Threat of arrest

In this case, the officers allegedly pulled over a motorist and accused him of speeding in September 2022.

Private prosecution unit spokesperson Barry Bateman said the motorist’s girlfriend and their 10-year-old daughter were also in the car at the time.

The officers allegedly disarmed him of his personal firearm before forcing him under threat of arrest to withdraw cash from an ATM at a petrol station in Rigel Avenue in Pretoria.

“After this, the officers allegedly forced the man into the back of a police van and drove him to a desolate area, where he handed over the R4 000 he had just withdrawn, and they robbed him of a further R1 000 from his wallet.”

Remember your rights

Since then, acting TMPD chief Basil Nkhwashu reminded subordinates that the public had the right to record, take photos and request identification at stop-and-searches conducted by officers.

Tshwane community safety MMC Grandi Theunissen, however, admitted that he was concerned about the TMPD’s reluctance to bring ‘rogue’ elements among their ranks to heel.

“There is active resistance against measures being put in place to restore discipline, command, control and ethics within the metro police,” he says.

Theunissen confirmed the arrest of an off-duty TMPD officer for the armed robbery in Johannesburg.

“The individual is indeed employed as a TMPD constable by Tshwane, however, he was not on duty when the alleged crime occurred. This is another sad confirmation of my suspicion that the TMPD has indeed been infiltrated and infected by some criminal elements.”

He says his department and MMC for Corporate and Shared Services Kingsley Wakelin are taking urgent steps to address capacity constraints in the disciplinary and consequence management chain.

“This will ensure a swift reduction of the existing backlog of cases, as well as a more direct correlation between misbehaviour and the consequences thereof. Ideally, we want to resolve these matters internally within 90 days.”