Police
brutality charges laid in Boland
January 17 2013 at 09:00am
Aziz Hartley
The SA Human Rights Commission (HRC)
accompanied families and individuals to the De Doorns police station yesterday
to lodge more than 22 complaints of police brutality.
These were allegedly perpetrated
during the violent strike that has had its epicentre in this village.
Three people have died, many have
been injured and scores arrested in the strikes that first began in late
November and have spread to several other Boland towns.
“I’ve got complaints from groups and
there are also about 22 complaints from individuals of various allegations of
how police are treating people,” HRC commissioner Melanie Dugmore said yes-
terday afternoon.
“We’ll be in Robertson tomorrow,”
she added.
The HRC was called out to visit the
Stofland informal settlement near De Doorns, where shocking allegations of
brutality have been levelled against the police.
During several house visits in the
impoverished settlement, Dugmore heard how people were shot in their homes.
On Monday, a shopkeeper was shot in
the head and later died. The victims included a 10-year-old girl who was shot
in the eye as she stood in her home’s doorway on Monday.
Community leaders in Stofland have
compiled a list of people injured during police operations in the settlement.
The list included several residents shot in the back.
