Police ‘runaround’ on Lwandle evidence
Cape Town - The commissioners investigating the
eviction of about 850 Lwandle residents charge that the police have given them
the “runaround” in providing video footage filmed during the evictions.
After a week-long break, the commission was due to
hear from the police on Friday about the role the police played over the two
days in June when shacks were dismantled on Sanral-owned land in Nomzamo, near
Lwandle.
But the hearings came to a quick close when
commissioner, advocate Denzil Potgieter, scolded the police for failing to
supply documents crucial to their submission – including 19 discs of SAPS video
footage of the evictions in June, and earlier in February.
“The inquiry and its secretariat have been engaging
with the SAPS over some time in order to obtain the video footage,” Potgieter
said on Friday. “I’m informed by the secretariat that as late as yesterday
(Thursday) they have been in telephonic contact with the police regarding the
video footage that has just not been forthcoming. From what I understand, the
secretariat was given the runaround.”
At previous sittings of the inquiry, Nomzamo residents testified about
being kicked and shot at by police – something Potgieter said the police would
know, given that a SAPS representative was present at the public hearings in
Nomzamo last week.
There, one woman claimed the police ripped off her clothes when she
tried to stop them arresting her husband, leaving her half-naked. Another said
she was hit by a rubber bullet while carrying her two-month-old baby.
But on Friday the police painted an organised and
above-board picture of their part in the evictions.
In a submission read out to the commission,
advocate NcumisaMayosi said the police’s role had to be understood in the
context of their obligations, namely restoring order if there was an outbreak
of public violence, “as happened in Lwandle”.
“As the SAPS understood the position, the property
belonged to Sanral and was occupied by about 150 illegal structures,” said
Mayosi. “The sheriff of court of Strand made contact with the SAPS and
requested its assistance in executing a court order (to evict the residents).
The SAPS anticipated the need for crowd management.”
She said that before the first evictions from the
land in February, the police had made it clear they would only help in crowd
control and maintaining order, not destroying property.
When the land was re-invaded a few months later,
the sheriff called on them again.
The police say that in the three planning meetings
leading up to the June incident, they expressed concerns over storing of
residents’ furniture, and insisted that Sanral’s contracted security company
put measures in place to ensure the land would not be invaded a third time.
“It being the height of winter, the issue of the
weather was discussed and whether if it rained evictions would proceed,” said
Mayosi. “It was mentioned that no rain was expected on those dates.”
It rained on both days of the eviction.
The police also said they faced roads blocked with
logs and burning tyres, and crowds of angry residents throwing bricks, stones
and petrol bombs.
Two public order policing unit members were
injured, while six members of the public were arrested for public violence on
the first day of the evictions, and four on the second. They said the crowds
were warned to disperse before teargas, rubber bullets and shields were used to
push them back.
“It is submitted to this commission that the role
played by the SAPS was strictly in accordance with assistance it was requested
to provide,” read Mayosi. “In executing that assistance, the conduct of the
SAPS fell in line with its obligation to maintain public order, protect persons
and uphold and enforce the law.”
But without the video footage, a “bulky”
last-minute affidavit submitted by one of the operational commanders only the
day before, and no affidavit from the second operational commander, Potgieter
said the inquiry was unable to continue.
He instructed the police to hand over all the
outstanding documents and discs, and he postponed proceedings until August 26,
when the police are expected to continue their submissions.
The inquiry has until the end of September to wrap
up, after Human Settlements Minister Lindiwe Sisulu granted Potgieter’s request
for an extension this week.
kristen.vanschie@inl.co.za
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