A policeman is being investigated for assault after a video of Helen Zille being dragged out of a voting station was shared on social media on Monday.
The Democratic Alliance federal council chairperson was apparently checking if everything was running smoothly at the Bethelsdorp voting station when the incident happened.
However, it is alleged that she was trying to campaign inside the facility, which is illegal.
South Africans took to the polls yesterday for the country’s local government elections.
The minute-long cellphone footage shows a tall cop dragging the 70-year-old Zille by the arm away from Fernwood Primary School’s entrance.
People wearing blue DA T-shirts try to stop the officer, asking what was happening but he doesn’t answer and continues walking.
Zille is heard saying to her supporters: “Just take a picture of him.”
At one point he even tries to pick Zille up, amid an outcry, and the cop then takes the iPhone of the person recording.
A woman shouts: “Why are you mishandling her? Don’t do that to her! This is someone’s mother, sir!”
William Petzer wrote on Facebook: “WATCH: Helen Zille was just physically dragged out of a voting station near Port Elizabeth... The reason the Police stated was that she was campaigning inside a voting station.
“Her defence is that she was only there to check that everything was running smoothly, and there were enough pens, ballots, etc. (sic)”
Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) spokesperson Grace Langa confirmed: “We are investigating a case of assault where it is alleged that the complainant is Mrs Helen Zille.
“It is alleged that she opened a case of assault against an officer after they mishandled her.
“It is also alleged that there was a person who was taking a video of the incident and the police took his phone, which was later handed back to him, this person later opened a theft case.
“IPID investigators are trying to get hold of Mrs Zille with no luck and investigations are continuing.”
The Daily Voice called, SMSed and emailed Zille several times but neither she nor the DA replied to queries by last night.
People on Twitter expressed concern over the incident with @followmoneyVMdB writing: “Why is no one tweeting about Helen Zille being assaulted by the police, who the hell holds a petite 70-year-old woman by both her arms behind her back? Where is the outrage?”
However, not everyone rushed to the former Western Cape Premier’s defence.
@genevievehcr wrote: “It’s funny that that lady was screaming ‘don’t handle her like that, this is someone’s mother’ – why humanise Helen Zille but not the homeless or the poor that are constantly mistreated by the DA-run City of CT?”