(Mint Press) – In Daveyton, a town near Johannesburg, South Africa, a Mozambican taxi driver died in police custody after being handcuffed to the back of a police van and dragged through the streets. Footage of the brazen act of brutality was recorded on a cellphone and broadcasted by local media.
The 27-year-old taxi driver was accused of parking his vehicle incorrectly.
“We are investigating an incident involving the death of a man, allegedly at the hands of the police. We are shocked by the footage which has been released,” Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) spokesman Moses Dlamini was quoted by AFP news agency as saying. “The circumstances surrounding his death are still allegations … Let’s find out what really happened.”
According to the Associated Press, South Africa’s police chief announced Friday that eight officers allegedly involved in the death of a man who was bound and then dragged by a police vehicle have been suspended and that the local police commander has been removed from his post.
Police allege that the man tried to disarm a police officer, leading to beatings both on the streets and in his holding cell.
The South African opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, had called for the suspension of the officers involved and a thorough investigation to be carried out. “The fact that it was police who were the vigilantes in this case shows that we cannot trust the [South African Police Service] to uphold the law,” said provincial parliamentarian Kate Lorimer. “The fact that the crowd watched and did nothing to help, some even cheering, is a sad indictment of the state of our society.”
Amnesty International stated that there is an “increasingly disturbing pattern” of police brutality in South Africa. “This appalling incident involving excessive force is the latest in an increasingly disturbing pattern of brutal police conduct in South Africa,” said Noel Kututwa, Amnesty International’s Southern Africa director.
A statement from the National Police Commissioner, Mangwashi Phiyega, stated: “The matter is viewed by the National Commissioner in a very serious light and it is strongly condemned.”
Law & order in South Africa
The South African Police Service (SAPS) — the national police force of South Africa — has been steeped in controversy since its 1995 creation. At the end of apartheid, the South African Police force was renamed and reformed as a civilian organization to help separate it from its past as the enforcer of South Africa’s apartheid policies. The police force incorporated the police of the 10 bantustans, or reservations for Native Africans under apartheid, and served at both a national and a provincial level.
As of 2010, however, the SAPS has regained its previous military structure. This embracing of previous practices highly disturbed many South Africans.
In August 2012 in the Marikana area near Rustenburg, South Africa, a wildcat strike sprung out at the Lonmin platinum mine. A lack of employment opportunities for local youth, poor living conditions, unemployment and inequalities in the wages of the workers and the value of the metal they mine were contributing factors to the uprising. The actual strike happened in pursuit of a pay raise of 12,500 South African rands per month, which would triple the miners’ monthly salary from approximately $500 per month to $1,500 per month.
The mine’s union, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), was seen as being too close to management. NUM is also linked to the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party. On Aug. 10, 3,000 workers walked off the job, only to be met by gunplay the next day when the union refused to meet with the strikers. Two miners were killed, ending the strikers’ affinity to the union.
Over the next two days, at least four miners, two police officers and two security guards were killed. It was felt that the police was conspiring with Lonmin in the death of the miners. On Aug. 16, an elite special unit of the SAPS opened fire on the miners, killing 34 and injuring at least 78. The police claimed self-defense, saying that the miners refused to disarm.
Inquiries into the police action suggests that the police planted weapons into the hands of the miners after they were killed. “The evidence clearly showed there is at least a strong prima facie case that there has been an attempt to defeat the ends of justice,” George Bizos, an attorney in the inquest, told Sapa.
The evidence of police misconduct include two photographs of a dead miner — one with the miner with bare hands and a second with a machete in his hand later — and videos showing shot miners with their hands handcuffed behind their backs.
The police, in the aftermath of the inquest, arrested approximately 270 of the strikers and charged them first with public violence and then with murder. One hundred fifty of these individuals claimed to be beaten by the police while in custody. The charges were dropped later.
Ultimately, Lonmin agreed to a 22 percent pay increase for the miners. Even though the National Police Commissioner held that the police was justified in its action, the Defense Minister has asked for forgiveness from the miners. “We agree, as you see us standing in front of you here, that blood was shed at this place. We agree that it was not something to our liking and, as a representative of the government, I apologize … I am begging, I beg and I apologize, may you find forgiveness in your hearts.”
The police has been involved in other recent cases of abuse. In Gauteng Province, 630 police officers were arrested in 2011 for fraud, corruption, rape and murder. Since 2000, the SAPS has killed more than 23 unarmed protesters, including at least four children, four teenagers and at least two individuals identified as onlookers and not active protesters.
Most shockingly, Amnesty International has expressed concern that the SAPS is training police recruits to be brutal and heavy-handed, using assault, harsh punishment and using sleep deprivation as training motivators. “If the police are trained with verbal and physical abuse, there is a strong possibility that they will act that way towards communities. It is a very dangerous thing and should be dealt with immediately,” said Chris Botha, a retired policeman who is now a training consultant for the SAPS and police in other countries.