Mashatile bodyguards: Do we really have a rule of law?

In the 1960s, the corrupt and tyrannical president of Haiti, François “Papa Doc” Duvalier, was so paranoid about any opposition that he created a force of thugs, known as the Tonton Macoute, as his bodyguards and they embarked on a reign of terror on the island which was to last decades.

Anybody suspected of challenging “Papa Doc” was liable to be assaulted, kidnapped – or just murdered.

Closer to home, the various thugs running the ZanuPF government in Zimbabwe have been doing similar things for years.

But we, here in South Africa, we are civilised, we have a constitution and the rule of law – and that wouldn’t happen here.

ALSO READ: Mashatile’s VIP protection officers acquitted of assault by police

Or would it? That’s the question we have to be asking ourselves in the wake of reports that eight South African Police Service (Saps) members of Deputy President Paul Mashatile’s VIP presidential protection unit have been cleared by an internal police disciplinary process, following their brutal assault on the driver and passengers in a car on a Joburg highway in 2023.

The attack was captured on video, showing the VIP officers – brandishing rifles and pistols – jumping out of a BMW X5 and attacking the occupants of a VW Polo.

The men are still out on bail waiting for the finalisation of a criminal case against them, but DA MP and chair of the portfolio committee on police Ian Cameron is right to ask: “If police officers can beat civilians on camera and walk free, if unions can obstruct justice with no consequence, and if Saps can sign off on it all – what is left of public accountability?”

Cameron claimed police unions had helped protect the VIP cops and delay and frustrate the disciplinary process.

Our politicians must learn they are not gods and they are accountable to us. We are not a banana republic… yet.

NOW READ: ‘Not clearly defined’ — What ANC leaders are saying about Mashatile’s ‘assassination’ attempt