Gauteng police will “thoroughly” investigate a special police unit's allegedly assaulting, intimidating and threatening patrons of a Hillbrow bar, Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa said on Monday.
“Our stance as the police leadership is comprehensible: we have never shielded corrupt police officers, instead 1/8we 3/8 have been leading a campaign to weed out tsotsi-cops,” Mthethwa said in a statement.
“Any such atrocious acts cannot be left unattended.”
He was responding to a report in Sunday's City Press newspaper of a “controversial special police unit” -already implicated in a host of crimes, including murder -caught on closed-circuit television (CCTV) “stomping on the patrons of a bar, jumping on one, pouring alcohol on people and kicking and slapping them”.
The paper obtained the CCTV footage showing the police storming into CJ's bar in Hillbrow last month.
According to the report the officers -some wearing balaclavas and others armed with R5 rifles -assaulted, intimidated and threatened patrons.
Mthethwa expressed “full confidence” in the Gauteng police management, saying they would “thoroughly investigate” the incident.
No member of the SA Police Service was “beyond reproach” or “above the law”, the statement read, and police management were “duty bound” to make sure officers upheld the principles of “batho pele” (people first).
Mthethwa said the police's mandate of “fighting crime smartly and toughly” within the boundaries of the Constitution had not changed. Those who could not conform to that mandate had no place in the police force.
He said the ministry had taken “proactive measures” to curb police abuse of civilians -adding that by February 2011, 200
Gauteng police officers had been arrested on various counts of corruption.
These measures included increasing the training period for new officers from one to two years, incorporating civic education and civic duties into training, reviewing measures and policies around disciplinary cases -for example moving away from suspension with full pay toward tougher conditions against those under investigation -and recruiting members by involving communities in the process.
The City Press further reported the raid on the CJ's bar was not the first, and a police officer was assaulted during another raid earlier this year. The Hillbrow police sergeant who happened to be in the bar was allegedly beaten up and kicked by members of the unit. He laid an assault charge against his colleagues, the report said.
The raid on the bar came two weeks after tactical response team members allegedly beat up patrons at Melville restaurant, Catz Pyjamas, after they allegedly threw bottles of alcohol at the officers from a first floor balcony. Four members were suspended after the incident.
Mthethwa criticised journalists who he charged had “jumped the gun” after the initial story was published and “condemned things for the sake of condemning”, before due process had been followed.
“After yesterday's story we noted some individuals within the media circles making premature statements and calling on police leadership to judge and punish our members based on allegations. We will not be pressured into responding by anyone.
“We shall never dismiss any member via 'media courts' and not afford them fair platforms to state their sides of the story.” -
Sapa