Sassa water cannon outcry: Black Sash rejects Ipid’s finding of ‘no misconduct’

HUMAN rights organisation Black Sash has rejected the findings of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) into the SAPS's use of a water cannon to disperse SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) beneficiaries in Bellville.

The police watchdog had launched an investigation into the incident, which caused huge public outcry in January.

Community Safety MEC Albert Fritz said yesterday that the report found no misconduct was committed.

Black Sash's C19 People's Coalition for #PayTheGrants spokesperson, Nathan Taylor, said the recipients were not treated in a humane manner.

“The level of human worth that is attached to people is another reflection of everything that people get put through. The idea that one can disperse the crowd using water cannons for queueing for disability grants, and see nothing wrong with that, shows that there is a problem with how people are viewed,” he said.

Fritz added: “We all saw the videos. Water cannons were used on Sassa beneficiaries waiting in a queue outside. We also see protests on a daily basis in our country, where crowds are far more unruly than the crowd outside of Sassa on that day, and water cannons are not used on the unruly crowds.”