Saturday, January 3, 2015

Crimes of the South African Police Service

Afrikaans Journos battered : ‘The four cops told me they pulled me over because I was white,’
23 August 2011

Afrikaans journo Yolanda Barnard of Sondag: ‘The four cops told me they pulled me over because I was white,’ she said. After she was punched in the face by a policewoman, the woman and a male cop carried her by her arms and legs to their minivan while the other two laughed at her humiliation… And Afrikaans news-photographer Craig Nieuwenhuizen, left, was bashed, kicked and beaten by security guards at the Unisa campus while investigating a story on Tuesday.


Jacques Steenkamp of Beeld newspaper writes that Afrikaans journalist Yolanda Barnard, 32, entertainment-reporter for Sondag tabloid, suffered a cracked nose-bone when she was battered in the face by a black policewoman on Sunday-afternoon Aug 22 2011. She has lodged charges at Midrand police station. Miss Barnard had just left the ‘Liedjieboer-Kroeg’, an Afrikaans entertainment venue at Olifantsfontein Road in Midrand, on Sunday at 4:15pm. She had spent the afternoon with entertainers Kurt Darren, DJ Ossewa and others to celebrate singer Pieter Smith’s birthday. “I had a few drinks but also had a lot to eat,’ she said. “I drove myself because I was not drunk. About a block away from the venue I was pulled over by four black police members. I asked them why they pulled me over specifically, and they said ‘because you are white,’ she said.
The four cops, three men and a woman, ordered her to follow them and the four cops climbed back into their minibus. She followed them in her car because she believed they would just go to the nearest police station. However instead they stopped in a quiet dead-end street, demanded her driver’s license and her keys.

“I wanted to know again why they pulled me over and the woman said ‘because you are drunk.’ I asked them to do a breathaliser test right there and then — because I know I was not drunk. The black female cop then battered me in the face. ‘

Ms Barnard was then grabbed by her arms and legs by the police woman and a male cop, and they carried her to the minibus. The other two black male cops stood there and laughed at her humiliation.
“I then told them that I was a journalist, and they suddenly dropped me right there on the tarmac. I jumped up and locked myself into my car.” An hour later, after posting at her car all that time, the four cops apparently decided they’d had enough and they all got back into the minivan. Ms Barnard then climbed out and pleaded with them to give her back her driver’s license and keys. They threw her belongings on the ground from the bus.

She never was charged with anything. “I am now terrified of the police. How can anyone trust them after such an incident?” she said. She was examined by a doctor who confirmed her suspicion that a bone may have been cracked in her nose. Editor of Sondag newspaper Peet Bothma said the newspaper takes a very strong stand against police cruelty and assaults, just as any other newspaper should also do.

“We support Yolanda completely in lodging her criminal charges, as well as the civil claim she will be lodging,’ he said. SAPS captain Agnes Huma confirmed that the journalist lodged formal charges of assault and intimidation against the specific police members involved.