Police brutality shocks DA
March 15 2013 at 01:15pm
SUPPLIED
Dianne Kohler Barnard
Johannesburg - The DA says it is
shocked by the latest case of alleged police brutality in which a court
interpreter was dragged alongside a car for 100m in Setlopo Village, Mahikeng,
in North West.
Democratic Alliance MP Dianne
Kohler-Barnard said on Friday that President Jacob Zuma and Police Minister
Nathi Mthethwa had failed to show leadership on the issue.
“The [SA Police Service] is past crisis
point, and the South African public must know that the president and the SAPS
leadership take this matter seriously.”
She said there had been no response
from Zuma on a call for the establishment of a judicial commission of inquiry
into police brutality.
“Since our request for this commission
more than a week ago, there has been no action from the president.”
Earlier on Friday, Mthethwa's spokesman
Zweli Mnisi told SABC radio news that the incident was embarrassing and
disgusting.
He said the “issue of command and
control” at police stations needed to be looked at.
The Independent Police Investigative
Directorate (Ipid) said on Thursday that a North West police officer had been
arrested for allegedly assaulting a man in Setlopo Village in Mahikeng, and
dragging him alongside a police vehicle.
The man, a court interpreter at Molopo
Magistrate's Court, was called over to the police vehicle after speaking to a
boy who had allegedly been harassed by the same officers moments earlier.
A 36-year-old sergeant was arrested on
Wednesday, and was due to appear in court on Friday, said Ipid spokesman Moses
Dlamini.
Sapa
