Cape Town - What started out as a day of fun turned into a night of assaults and arrests for friends in Table View.
A video is doing the rounds depicting a man being arrested in Table View and when a woman questions police, tempers flare and one of the officers physically assaults two women.
One of the women, Lauren Maphanga, said they were having a nice time in the swimming pool when they were approached by security guards who said they were making noise.
She said they did not understand the claim because they were not the only people in the swimming pool.
“I think they came to us because we were the only black people there but we were not making noise because we were not even drinking,” she said.
She said one of the residents in the complex called police after seeing that we were not removed from the pool.
She said when the police arrived they tried to explain that they did nothing wrong but the police arrested one of them and people watching were shouting “arrest them”.
“When we asked the police why they were arresting him one of them started assaulting us and when we asked one of his colleagues to intervene he said there’s nothing he can do, we must open a case,” said Maphanga.
She said three police vans came and arrested them and they spent the night in holding cells.
Maphanga said they were surprised when they were told they were being arrested for assaulting an officer.
“We had bruises and our doctors gave us the J88 form and advised us to open a case, but because of what happened we decided to open the case in Milnerton,” she said.
She said police in Milnerton were helpful but told them they can’t handle the case because Table View is not in their jurisdiction.
Police spokesperson Captain FC van Wyk said the case of common assault was registered at Table View police for further investigation.
He said the case was transferred to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) for further investigation.
Van Wyk said there is also a case of interfering with police duties and defeating the ends of justice registered with Table View police station for investigation.
Ipid spokesperson Ndileka Cola said they are still investigating the case only when the investigation process is complete they will make recommendations for disciplinary action to SAPS.
“The recommendations are informed by the investigation findings,” said Cola.
Weekend Argus