Cape Town - An off-duty policeman is being investigated for assaulting a woman at a petrol station and uniformed, on-duty colleagues are accused of not doing enough to restrain him.
The charges come after television station eNCA was sent CCTV footage from a petrol station in Smithfield in the Free State last Friday.
The footage shows a man arriving at the pumps in a white BMW, walking to a bakkie, and returning to his car. A woman follows him and hands him cash. As she walks away, he follows her and punches her in the back of the head.
She falls to the ground. At this point, two policeman also parked at the petrol station rush over. Over the next two minutes, the man repeatedly kicks in the woman’s direction, possibly connecting with her at least once.
He is constantly restrained by the two policemen, but breaks free at least once.
After falling to the ground a second time, the woman gets up and drives off. The two policemen, in turn, frogmarch the man away from her direction, and he returns to his car.
The CCTV footage was given to the station by a local security manager.
In its report on the matter, the TV station stated that the attacker is a policeman, and suggests that his attack on the woman happened “in full view of his two colleagues”.
eNCA alleged that the pair “do not restrain him”, although the footage shows the policemen trying to hold him back.
eNCA described the drama as another case of “police brutality”.
It subsequently reported that the footage had been seen by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate, and quoted spokesman Moses Dlamini saying two investigators had been put on the case – in connection with both the off-duty policeman and the on-duty colleagues.
Dlamini could not be reached for further comment today as he was in court on another matter.
Police told eNCA they were also investigating the incident.
The claim that the assault was another case of “police brutality” comes against widespread concern that police violence is on the increase.
Sapa reports that the case against nine policemen accused of killing taxi driver Mido Macia was postponed in the Benoni Magistrate’s Court today.
The case was postponed to May 24 for further investigation.
The nine have all been denied bail.
Macia was filmed being tied to the back of a police van and dragged along a street in Daveyton on February 26. He was found dead in the local police station’s holding cells several hours later.
The accused are Thamsanqa Ncema, 35, Linda Sololo, 56, Meshack Malele, 45, Motome Walter Ramatlou, 37, Percy Mnisi, 26, Bongumusa Mdluli, 25, Sipho Ngobeni, 30, Lungisa Ewababa, 31, and Bongani Kolisi, 27.
Cape Argus