Officers running amok must be reined in

THE images of naked Bulelani

Qolani, a 28-year-old father of four, who was manhandled by law enforcement officers from the City of Cape Town have been compared with the police brutality in the murder of George Floyd in the US which led to worldwide protests.

Qolani, an unemployed taxi driver, claimed he was taking a bath in his shack in Empolweni informal settlement in Khayelitsha when officers dragged him out and threw him to the ground in full view of his daughters, neighbours and cameras. One of the officers is seen using his knee to pin him on the ground. His plea to be allowed to put his clothes on fell on deaf ears.

Dan Plato, the Mayor of Cape Town, has accused Qolani of “tactically” undressing himself when officers approached him.

Four officers involved in the incident have since been suspended.

The SA Human Rights Commission is planning to take the City of Cape Town to court over lockdown evictions.

The ANC also weighed in on the matter with its councillor Xolani Sotashe laying a criminal case against Plato “for contravening lockdown regulations” by effecting evictions that have been suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic.

But it’s not just in Cape Town where citizens have faced the brutality of the police and security personnel.

In the Anc-run ethekwini Municipality, people have been violently evicted in Hazelmere, Durban, for illegally occupying land. Some were assaulted by the police, left dripping in blood and forced to leave their possessions behind.

In Johannesburg, at least 20 families were displaced in April after the Red Ants demolished more than 80 shacks in the Kokotela informal settlement in Lawley near Lenasia.

It is clear that, whether a municipality is run by the ANC or the DA, the treatment of the poor and the homeless remains the same. For the state to need to evict people during the unforgiving winter cold in the midst of an unprecedented pandemic says a lot about how it regards people who voted it into power.

Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation Minister Lindiwe Sisulu needs to rein in these municipalities.