Humiliated Bulelani Qolani was mourning his aunt's death when manhandled naked

Khayelitsha resident Bulelani Qolani says he is still in physical pain as a result of the assault by law enforcement officers. Picture: African News Agency (ANA)

Khayelitsha resident Bulelani Qolani says he is still in physical pain as a result of the assault by law enforcement officers. Picture: African News Agency (ANA)

Published Jul 3, 2020

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Cape Town – Unemployed taxi driver, Bulelani Qolani had just returned from the Eastern Cape after burying his aunt when he was manhandled while naked by law enforcement officers in the incident that has gone viral on social media.

The 28-year-old father of four, who originally hailed from King William’s Town, has lived in the eThembeni informal settlement in Khayelitsha for more than three months.

“I feel dehumanised by the City for what they have done to me. I lost my dignity as a man and father of girls. They embarrassed me in front of my kids and my community,” he said.

“My kids are traumatised by what happened. I don’t know if I will ever recover from this. I am in pain as we speak, they knocked my private part with their knees and they would not let me in the house to at least get dressed. I asked them many times if they could wait for me to get dressed, because I was still bathing.

“They did not want to listen; they knocked down the door and forcefully dragged me outside, naked. I tried to get back to the house but they would not let me in. When I tried to explain to them, they said I must keep my mouth shut.

“I asked them to produce a court order and while I was asking, one of them pushed and kicked me in the back, that’s why it is hard for me to even bend down. 

"They took everything I had inside, including food for my children, and they destroyed some of the things such as the bed and my wardrobe.

"The City has been doing this for a very long time and no one has been held accountable. I am glad that the whole world can see the kind of government we have here in the Western Cape, the government who treats the poor like trash, the government who abuses those who are trying to make an honest living.

“We want nothing but land so that we can be able to build houses and live with our families. They chase us out of our houses but they don’t offer us a place to stay.”

Cape Times

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