Regular police abuse not taken seriously

AS WILLIAM Saunderson-Meyer notes, the government breaks its own laws (last week’s Jaundiced Eye “Zuma and Trump share anticonstitutional instincts” refers).

It does not even take Concourt judgments seriously. At least Paul O’Sullivan’s lawyer was not tortured when she was detained, for that happens to poor black people on a regular basis.

For example, SM was taken away by police in the early hours of a Sunday morning several months ago, and I spent several hours trying to locate him.

The Cluster Commander of his neighbourhood police station did not know, and referred me to the Deputy Provincial Commissioner for detectives, who did not get back to me. By mid-afternoon SM had managed to telephone a friend and tell him that he had been taken to holding cells about 50km from his local police station and, en route, was tubed (near suffocation) during interrogation.

He subsequently appeared in court on a serious charge, was eventually given bail, attended various remands (while under threat of death at court), but the charges were recently withdrawn.

Tubing (not only of suspects) during police raids is a regular occurrence and, like other forms of torture, is regarded in law as a very serious crime.

I have drawn it to the attention of national and provincial ministers for policing, police management and even prosecutors, but none of them have evinced any concern. The silence of politicians is deafening. Cases are reported to Ipid, and medical evidence is provided, yet they fail to take action.

It took appeals to the portfolio committee in Parliament to get any action, initiated by the Ipid head office and at the committee’s instigation, in the case of a man who was tubed, beaten, and suffered damage to his teeth, hearing, neck and eye, after he, like SM, was maliciously arrested (a common tactic which wastes countless hours of court time).

There is no room for complacency, for no one is immune to the abuse of power by the police.