Q&A

Shocking footage of a naked homeless man being brutalised by Cape Town’s anti-land-invasion unit has horrified the country. Chris Barron asked mayor DAN PLATO ...

Why do you employ such thugs?

I don’t know what you mean. They’re employees of the City of Cape Town and doing a sterling job except for what happened the other day, unfortunately.

How can that happen in a city led by the DA?

The point is, if you look at the footage, the person was initially naked. He walked out naked …

Isn’t this the kind of stuff that happened under apartheid?

The point is that site is earmarked for housing development and infrastructure development. If we allow each and every person to put up their structures every day on any piece of land we will never be able to use any site for any other issue. There’s major developmental usage for that site …

So why hasn’t it been developed?

There’s reasons why you cannot develop a site immediately. We don’t decide to develop a site and tomorrow you’re on site. There’s a lead period of time for you to move onto the site and develop it.

Because we plan development for the site. To plan any major development of 500-plus houses on any site you have a lead time of two to three years.

Is officially sanctioned thuggery a sustainable answer to invasions?

If you study the video footage, he stripped himself, he walked around naked in front of his structure. That prompted law enforcement officers to move in and pin him down.

You’re referring to the footage of them dragging him outside, kicking and manhandling him?

That was the unfortunate situation. To keep him still, to keep him quiet. It didn’t happen and then the whole issue went haywire.

How can they behave like this knowing they’re being filmed?

That is why I’m saying it’s an unfortunate situation.

Doesn’t it speak to a shocking sense of impunity?

Well, we suspended four of them pending an investigation.

Is that enough?

That’s the four that are identified as part of the altercation.

Is that where the buck stops?

Do you want us to suspend and sack the whole unit even if they were not involved?

What about senior officials who gave them their orders?

That is what the investigation will unravel. Who had given the orders and that sort of thing.

Because that’s what accountability is about, isn’t it?

That is why I asked the city manager today to take the investigation out of the hands of internal people and bring in independent, outside investigators.

Would this kind of thing happen if your senior officials knew they’d be held accountable?

That’s possible. But at the end of the day the investigation will identify any managerial mistakes made and come up with the necessary answers and recommendations.

We’ve been here before …

Definitely, but you’re dealing with people, and people make mistakes.

Don’t these mistakes go to the heart of inequality in our society?

I think it’s a case of wearing a uniform and believing you have all the authority and you can swear at people, threaten people …