Deputy President Mashatile admitting his VIP officers involved in assault raises further questions about his ethics

4 July 2023

ActionSA believes Deputy President, Paul Mashatile’s admission that his South African Police Service (SAPS) VIP Protection Unit was involved in assaulting three South Africans on a Gauteng highway raises serious questions about the Deputy President’s ethics which have left a lot to be desired in recent history.

Deputy President, Paul Mashatile, has, in recent weeks, faced mounting allegations of unethical conduct including living a life of luxury in expensive homes - owned by businesspeople who are alleged to have benefitted from state contracts - and his VIP unit’s involvement in this horrific assault throws his character further into disrepute.

ActionSA will not allow the Deputy President to get away with being a mafia-style leader who rules with brute force. ActionSA asserts that Mashatile’s long history of dubious conduct cultivated an environment fertile for his VIP protectors to act like jackbooted thugs. This simply cannot be tolerated.

We maintain that South Africa is neither a gangster state nor a police state, and any police official is therefore forbidden from assaulting any member of the public - even if they are found guilty of committing a crime.

ActionSA has therefore already written to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) head, Dikeledi Jennifer Ntlatseng, to investigate the SAPS VIP unit’s actions to ensure that the guilty officials are held accountable for their actions.

ActionSA, as a party that believes in the rule of law, will work tirelessly to ensure that this matter is treated with the seriousness it deserves, and appeal to political parties represented in Parliament to ensure that Deputy President Mashatile is held to account in Parliament and that police officers are held responsible for their brutality inflicted on ordinary South Africans.

Issued by Herman Mashaba, ActionSA President, 4 July 2023