TMPD officials who pulled over motorist and allegedly assaulted her set to be prosecuted
“We hope that this case will make other law enforcement officials who abuse their power reconsider the way in which they deal with law-abiding citizens.”
Tshwane Metro Police Department (TMPD) officials who allegedly assaulted a motorist in December 2019 would be prosecuted, according to AfriForum.
In a statement, the civil rights organisation said the TMPD officials would be prosecuted on assault charges in the Hatfield magistrate’s court after an altercation ensued with motorist Kymie du Toit in Lyttelton.
This comes after AfriForum in 2020 announced that its private prosecution unit would assist Du Toit with the criminal charges she had laid against the officials involved.
AfriForum said the docket was transferred to the Hatfield court on Monday and the suspects would now be subpoenaed after a court date had been determined.
According to the head of AfriForum’s private prosecution unit, advocate Gerrie Nel, institutions such as the metro police and the SAPS existed to protect citizens, however “some officials seem to be doing exactly the opposite”.
The case comes after video footage of the incident in 2019 made headlines. In the viral video, Du Toit, a teacher, can be seen being approached by a throng of TMPD officers after it is believed that she failed to stop at a roadblock, due to safety reasons.
Du Toit was at a petrol station when the three male, and one female, officers forcefully dragged her away from her vehicle to a TMPD vehicle.
A man wearing a yellow T-shirt and baseball cap tries to intervene, but is kept at a distance by one of the officers as Du Toit is dragged and then placed to the ground by one of the officers.
She is then handcuffed and the video ends. Social media posts claim the woman had been driving alone in the dark and was afraid to pull over at a roadblock, which led her to only stop at a petrol station.
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This woman was alone and didn't want to pull over in the dark fearing fake cops. She drove to a nearby petrol station. See what follows… @SAPoliceService @TMPDSafety @MbalulaFikile @TrafficRTMC pic.twitter.com/jV7ObduTM5
— Yusuf Abramjee (@Abramjee) December 5, 2019
Natasha Venter, an advisor at AfriForum’s private prosecution unit, said officers who abuse their power must be held accountable.
“We will therefore continue to support Kymie by monitoring the court proceedings and ensuring that justice is done. We will not tire in our duty to ensure that the criminal justice system is functioning properly.
“Society cannot afford officials, who are supposed to be enforcing the law, breaking the law at the expense of normal, law-abiding citizens. When a woman, who is driving alone at night, is terrified of being pulled over by the traffic police, it is an indictment against society’s trust in the bona fides of their intentions. We hope that this case will make other officers who abuse their power reconsider how they deal with law-abiding citizens.”
Du Toit told Rekord, while she did not want to go into what happened on the day in 2019, she was pleased that the officers would be prosecuted.
“I just hope that that doesn’t take another two years. I have requested my attorneys to keep pressure on the NPA to prosecute them.”
TMPD metro police spokesperson Senior Superintendent Isaac Mahamba said they were unable to comment on the matter at this time. Mahamba in 2019, however, confirmed that the officers in the video were metro officers.
“We are aware of the video and the incident that happened on the mentioned date and times,” he said.
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