Saturday, April 23, 2016

Crimes of the South African Police Service


Alex Mitchley and Amanda Watson
9.3.2015 11.30 am
Thandiswa Losi, who went public on social media claiming she was the victim of police brutality at the weekend, is still shaken and has lost trust in the government as well as the police.

Losi said although you hear and see things happening to other people, people remain oblivious until it happens to them. “It changes everything,” said Losi about her now distrust in the police. “The way they treat innocent people as opposed to criminals.”

Losi, using Twitter claimed she “witnessed police horrifically drag a girl by the neck, assaulting her” at the weekend. “I tried to record this, a police officer took my phone, hit me and arrested me,” tweeted Losi. She said she had spent nine hours in a police cell before being released.


Losi said she had opened up a case of assault after being released and would be calling the Independent Police Investigative Directorate on Monday to lay a complaint. Justice Project of South Africa chairman Howard Dembovsky told The Citizen police were out of control and “forcing her to delete it is a crime in itself if it shows unlawful behaviour on their part. It is called defeating the ends of justice and evidence tampering”.

Dembovsky said of greater concern was that the officers “get what is coming to them”. He added the compensation she would be awarded in a civil claim was not really the point. “The fact is, if more people were to institute successful civil claims, this behaviour would be stopped by SAPS management.” DA Shadow Minister of Police Dianne Kohler-Barnard offered to assist Losi with reporting the matter to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate.

Lead SA’s Yusuf Abramjee also offered to help Losi and has been in contact with her since she took to Twitter about the incident.