Johannesburg - Racism allegations at Douglasdale police station boiled over on Tuesday, with several officers being disarmed for allegedly threatening a repeat of a deadly shooting at Rosebank police station several years ago.
The officers, mostly in civilian clothing, had armed Tactical Response Team (TRT) members set on them after their station commander, Brigadier Leon Kruger, opened intimidation charges.
A group of officers had allegedly stormed Kruger’s office on Monday, demanding that he cease to report for work until their grievances had been addressed.
Chief among their complaints are allegations of Kruger and a Colonel Swart’s use of the k-word, and a female colonel who allegedly calls black female officers “b***h whores”.
“As ek praat, ’n k***** moet luister (When I talk, a k***** must listen),” is just one of the choice words apparently used by the officers, according to a senior officer who declined to be named for fear of victimisation.
Said the officer: “Apparently he had opened a case of intimidation against us, so we’re working without firearms. What’s surprising is, if they are disarming us, what about him, since he’s also intimidating us? We are vulnerable, but what can we do?”
The officer was among the cops who complained against the three officers last week and on Monday. The cops stood around the station as TRT members disarmed each officer.
The man, with more than 20 years’ experience, said they had approached management to remove Kruger and his two junior officers from the station until their grievances had been addressed.
“Last week, although we continued to work, we demanded to talk to (police commissioner) General (Riah) Phiyega.
“We were told that she was engaged, but were promised that the officers won’t report for duty. Yesterday (Monday), only the commander showed up for work until the matter was resolved… so we went to his office to request to talk to him.
“We told him we don’t want a repeat of what happened in Rosebank (where an officer opened fire, firing 12 shots at station commander Thandi Mkhize in 2011 and killing another police officer before killing himself).
“We then said he could go work at another cluster as we can’t work with him. We had even asked our generals last week to remove us if they don’t want to remove the brigadier,” the officer said.
The commander had requested time to remove his things.
But on Tuesday at 8am, TRT members arrived at the station, followed by several others about two hours later.
As members of the public went in to get documents certified or to open cases, police officers stood around while the queue snaked outside.
“Are you (journalists) filming to show how useless they are?” asked a woman leaving the police station around 3.35pm on Tuesday.
A young man walking in to get documents certified asked “Is this a bad time (to walk in)?”, pointing to the Nyala parked outside the station, journalists camping by the gate, and police officers and TRT members standing around.
Other allegations labelled against Kruger were that he often instructed officers “to let arrested white people go without (them going through) bail (applications)”.
“Our problem is that the brigadier, when we arrest white people, he would insist we must release them without bail no matter how serious the charges are.
“The SAPS, instead of solving problems, they create them.
“The top brass don’t want to take decisions against each other,” said another officer, also refusing to be named.
Gauteng police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Lungelo Dlamini referred all questions to Colonel Noxolo Kweza, who declined to comment.
The Star