Police watchdog working to identify metro cops behind alleged assault of civilians
This after Bheki Sheba and two of his colleagues were assaulted when they visited the TMPD’s pound in the Pretoria CBD to retrieve their vehicle after they were impounded.
Police watchdog the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) was working towards identifying the Tshwane metro police officers who were behind the alleged assault of three members of the public nearly two weeks ago.
Ipid spokesperson Grace Langa said while the process to identify the suspects was unfolding, the watchdog body was yet to establish the exact number of metro police officers involved in the alleged incident.
“It is not yet confirmed, but it is alleged that it could be plus-minus eight officers,” she said.
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.
“It’s Tshwane metro [police department officers],” she said.
She 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”.
“We have not yet identified them and we thought that as law-enforcement officers they would understand the law very well and could have at least approach us and made themselves available to give their side of the story, but no one pitched.
“Now we have to hunt them even though they know themselves,” Langa said, adding that they were hopeful that the officers would be found.
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Bheki Sheba and two of his colleagues said they were assaulted when they visited the TMPD’s pound in the Pretoria CBD to retrieve their vehicle.
In the video which was circulated on social media, Sheba is seen shirtless with what appears to be sjambok lash marks across the length and width of his back, arms, chest and face.
Meanwhile, TMPD spokesperson Senior Superintendent Isaac Mahamba confirmed they had launched an internal investigation after the alleged incident, said to have taken place at the Vermeulen pound depot between 22:00 and 23:00.
“When we were informed of these allegations, we immediately instructed our internal affairs unit, which deals with the conduct of members, to investigate this matter further and determine the possibility of an internal disciplinary process,” he said.
Mahamba also said they would also co-operate fully with the police watchdog’s investigation as the law dictated that such cases had to be reported to and investigated by them.
“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 and 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”.
“The only outstanding statements is only from the alleged members who were involved in this particular incident, but we are looking into it and we are going to co-operate with Ipid and we are going to go deeper just to understand what happened.
“After obtaining those statements, we will be able to determine a way forward,” he said.
Mahamba said that while the incident had transpired on a Saturday, it was only brought to their attention on Wednesday (October 6) – when the officers were already on their “rest days”.
He said that they could not go the homes of the officers who were involved in the incident not only out of respect for their privacy, but also because they were off from work.
“From our side, internally, the law dictates that we should obtain statements while they are at work,” Mahamba said.
He said 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.
This was not the first time in recent times that the TMPD made headlines over its police officers allegedly involved in acts of assault and brutality.
Earlier this year, TMPD investigated an incident where metro officers were seen on video assaulting a man.
In the video, the man was seen being taken out of a house and seemingly slapped by an officer.
In other incidents, Unisa law Professor Andre Thomashausen and journalist Frans Machate were also victims to similar incidents.
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