Deputy president Paul Mashatile’s vehicle was not present at the scene of a protection unit assault, as it had driven on before eight members of his unit attacked three men on the side of the road.
This is what police minister Bheki Cele told members of the parliamentary committee on police on Wednesday. The SA Police Service leadership and members of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid), which investigates allegations of police corruption, appeared before parliament to discuss the assault that occurred in July.
A passing motorist filmed the incident, in which Mashatile’s VIP protection unit was violently beating three men, and it went viral on social media later, leading to an outcry. The eight police officers were arrested and charged with intent to do grievous bodily harm, malicious damage to property and pointing a firearm. They are on R10,000 bail each.
Initially, Mashatile denied being at the scene. But ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula said the deputy president had been in the convoy.
Cele told parliament that Mashatile’s vehicle and four others had driven on and only two of the vehicles in the convoy stayed behind when the assault occurred. The men who were beaten are believed to be members of the SA National Defence Force (SANDF).
Cele said: “The convoy of the deputy president normally has seven cars. The deputy president was in the convoy [but] he was not on the crime scene, where I think two of his cars pulled off to deal with that matter.”
Cele said Mashatile realised at home that two cars had stopped and five had driven on. “He did not know until later that the incident had happened.”
MPs suggested those who had been assaulted had been asked to keep quiet by the government and not tell their story as the assailants all appear to members of the SANDF, and are thus state employees.
It was suggested that police brutality is systemic, with IFP MP Zandile Majozi calling the police “angry” and DA MP Andrew Whitfield saying police abuse is “pervasive”.
National Freedom Party MP Ahmed Munzoor Shaik Emam, however, said the focus on police brutality was incorrect and usually the police were victims who suffered brutality at the hands of criminals who murdered some of them.
Cele agreed police often faced those who wanted to “eliminate them”.
Whitfield asked the police bosses when they would introduce body cameras for police members to wear to capture their actions at work. “In 2019, the SAPS announced that body cams were on the agenda of senior management. To date, I’m not aware of any police officer who wears a body cam. The question is when will police officers finally be issued with body cams so that we can improve transparency and police accountability.”
National police commissioner Gen Fannie Masemola stated the service was working out specifications for a tender.
Masemola said initially there was a question as to whether body cams were lawful, but the police now understand their use to be permitted. “Currently, we are compiling specs. We are going to buy them. It is one of those things that we have we start implementing.”
He gave no timelines or plan for any implementation.
Whitfield told Business Day transparency and accountability through the use of cameras that needed to remain on at all times would change behaviour. “If police are attacked, body cams would also provide evidence for use by the force.”
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