Cape Town - Police management have launched a probe into the conduct of their officers after a video, which went viral on the weekend, showed officers looking on while two naked men were attacked by a mob as they lay on the ground writhing in pain.
The incident at the N2 Gateway housing project in Delft was prompted by accusations that the men were selling items stolen during burglaries in the area.
The video had apparently been shot in February.
Franklin van Wyk, 20, died and the other man sustained serious injuries.
Police spokesperson Novela Potelwa said the internal probe was focusing on the police’s initial response to the crime scene to determine whether the first responders acted accordingly from the time they arrived at the scene of crime.
“The investigation is also looking into what else occurred on the scene that the video did not capture. Also, whether the police on the scene asked for back-up and what transpired thereafter,” she said.
She said six men have been charged with murder and attempted murder, and the case was currently in court, and their next appearance was scheduled for May 9.
Community Policing Forum spokesperson Charles George said the community was fed up with crime in the area.
“The community can't handle the volumes and the percentage of crimes happening on a daily basis. However, we do not want the community to take the law into their hands, but we also say the police when summoned must do their work and enforce the law.
“With police driving away, it now seems as if they approved the type of mob justice. They could have called for back-up if they felt that threatened. In fact, there are a lot of things that could have been done, but to leave the scene was not the right thing to do,” he said.
George said these incidents will continue if police do not respond on time when called to the scene.
“Little pockets of these incidents are happening.There were also two young people that were also caught during a break-in a few weeks ago, and again mob justice took place where the man was necklaced but survived and the woman was repeatedly raped,” he said.
He said police with other crime-fighting bodies must fight crime by co-ordinating with the local community.
Sub Council 5 chairperson Angus McKenzie said while the circumstances that led to the incident were unclear, lack of action by the police was of huge concern.
“It is incidents such as these that further divide communities from services such as SAPS, who are obliged to act immediately in situations such as these by bringing calm to the situation. It is quite clear that SAPS had no intention to effectively deal with this,” he said.
Cape Argus