Cops face probe for manhandling woman
Video captures officers dragging an elderly lady
Gauteng police commissioner Lieutenant-General Deliwe de Lange has ordered an investigation into police conduct after a woman was violently pulled off a chair and dragged on the floor by officers at Jeppestown police station in Johannesburg.
The incident, which took place on Wednesday evening, was captured on video and went viral on social media yesterday.
The video shows a helpless elderly woman clinging on to a chair being dragged off by two police officers and a female civilian.
The officers can be seen pulling the woman by the arms and her legs off a steel chair and she fell to the floor.
A male police officer can be seen trying to intervene but the officers would have none of it as they continued to drag her on the floor.
The woman desperately tried to resist by throwing her hands in the air during the ordeal.
Gauteng police spokesperson Brigadier Mathapelo Peters condemned the incident.
“Police management condemn, in the strongest terms, what appears to be a woman being manhandled by police officers at Jeppe police station. M anagement were alerted to this incident by a bystander on Wednesday evening as well by a video clip that has since gone viral on social media,” Peters said.
De Lange said the incident was unacceptable.
“It is totally unacceptable and appalling that a member of the public, more so a woman, should be ill-treated in such a manner by the very people who are supposed to be prioritising her safety,” De Lange said.
The incident happened barely a week after President Cyril Ramaphosa ordered an investigation into the conduct of two police officers who allegedly insulted women on August 1, outside the Union Buildings, during the nationwide #TotalShutDown march against gender-based violence.
Speaking during his speech at the Women’s Day Event in Mbekweni, in the Western Cape, Ramaphosa said one of the officers slapped a woman, while the other insulted the female marchers.
‘ ‘ It’s appalling that she was ill-treated by policemen