DA calls for urgent response from IPID and SAPS over White River Police Station attack

29 March 2021

The DA has written to the Executive Director of IPID to request an urgent investigation into videos which have emerged of a group of men assaulting a man at the White River Police Station in Mpumalanga. The man can be seen being attacked in the police station without any intervention or protection from members of the South African Police Service (SAPS).

According to a statement and video footage, Dalia Jordaan and her fiancé, Barend, were surrounded by several vehicles and threatened with a firearm after they had recorded a motorcade driving recklessly on the R40 near White River. Jordaan and her fiancé were followed to the the police station by the men in the motorcade, instead of being met by protection from SAPS officers, they were instead told to handover their phones while the men from the motorcade proceeded to attack Jordaan’s fiancé.

It is alleged that one of the men from the motorcade had detailed information about Barend and Dalia Jordaan including where they lived and claimed to have connections to members within SAPS as well as judges. This raises serious questions about who these men are and what, if any, security clearance they may have. The fact that the perpetrators of the assault felt safe enough to commit these crimes inside a police station while the victims of the assault feared for their lives highlights the crisis within the SAPS.

The DA has also written to the National Police Commissioner, General KehlaSitole, requesting an urgent investigation to identify and arrest this violent gang and to determine whether they have any connections to the SAPS. The National Police Commissioner must also launch an internal investigation into the lack of action by SAPS members and the refusal to open a case as well as the poor security at the police station.

The DA strongly condemns this violence and the lack of action taken by the police against the clear display of thuggery and violence.

Security officers attacked a couple in White River MP. They allegedly tried to force them off the road. And they demanded the footage. @PSiRALive pic.twitter.com/guVshhy4cB

— Yusuf Abramjee (@Abramjee) March 29, 2021

Issued by Andrew Whitfield, DA Shadow Minister of Police, 29 March 2021