More people claim harrassment by Sunnyside police
Two brothers and a cousin relive the horror of the day they were allegedly arrested by the Sunnyside police.
More people have come forward to accuse a Sunnyside police unit of brutality.
This has taken the number of cases being investigated by police watchdog Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid), to 30.
Ipid spokesperson Robbie Raburabu said several of these cases had already been heard before courts, and Ipid had made recommendations about what internal disciplinary action could be taken against unit members in the interim.
“It is important to note that some of the suspects are not permanent members of the SAPS, but reservists,” said Raburabu.
He said the cases had been opened at the Sunnyside and Pretoria police stations against one police unit.
“Indications are that other cases were reported against the group and more are still to come,” said Raburabu.
He said he would not divulge any more information.
The latest case reported to Ipid against the police unit, known as Mahlangu squad, followed an incident at the Lavianto Lounge in Sunnyside where two brothers and a cousin claimed to have been assaulted and unlawfully arrested.
Vela Vilane (33) said he had invited his brother Maqhawe (31) and cousin Mothobisi Nhlenyama (24) to visit him in Pretoria from KwaZulu-Natal for Father’s Day celebrations.
“I wanted to treat my little brother as he is from a village that does not have such places [as Lavianto]. Little did I know he would be beaten up and jailed for nothing,” said Vela, a Pretoria hotel employee.
“Now I regret inviting him to spend time with me.”
Maqhawe said he, Vela and other people were drinking when they heard a noise outside the club.
“There was a commotion outside,” said Maqhawe.
“Vela went outside to check and was met by a gruesome scene.”
Vela, who said he had heard three gunshots from outside, said: “I saw three people lying in pools of blood.”
He said the manager, who seemed to want to close the club, asked patrons to pay their bills before evacuating.
Vela said as patrons filed out Mahlangu and his team arrived and ordered the patrons, by then standing outside, into the back of their vans because he was arresting them.
“When nobody reacted, he (Mahlangu) threatened to beat us up and forced us into the vans,” said Vela.
“They assaulted us and sprayed us with pepper spray,” said Nhlenyama.
Nhlenyama said he had never been arrested before but had heard how cruel the police could be.
Maqhawe said when he asked why they were being arrested, the police threatened to kill everybody.
“They did not read us our rights or tell us why we were being arrested,” said Nhlenyama.
“Two days later, we were all released without charge.”
Maqhawe and Nhlenyama said they suspected the police were trying to cover up the incident because the cases they had opened could not be found.
“We laid a complaint with the Sunnyside police a day after we were released but they [police] did not send us the case numbers and whenever we go there to enquire, we are told there were no cases opened by us against the police in question,” said Nhlenyama.
Ipid confirmed it was investigating cases arising from the same incident reported by other patrons, but not the ones by the two men.
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