Video evidence cover-up: we must have answers

The Democratic Alliance (DA) will today write to the Directorate of Special Operations (DSO / Scorpions), requesting an investigation into a claim that portions of an SABC video tape seized by officers of the president's VIP Protection Unit were deleted. If true, this action suggests that officers in the VIP Protection Unit deliberately tampered with evidence which might have been used against them in a court of law - possibly under the instruction or supervision of senior officers.

The DA regards this claim, together with the accusation that VIP Unit officers tore up parts of a reporter's notebook, as constituting a flagrant violation of journalistic freedoms, and this warrants an urgent investigation at the highest level.

The DSO continues to have both the capacity and mandate to deal with matters of a serious nature such as this, and the DA believes that in light of this concerning new development, a DSO investigation is needed in addition to the pending enquiry by the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD) - an investigation which the DA also instigated.

The DA also calls on the South African Police Service (SAPS) to assist the DSO with any subsequent enquiries, and, in particular, to clarify their own account of last Saturday's incident, after yesterday admitting that portions of their initial statement were "not factually accurate". It is simply ridiculous for the Police Service to admit to a mistake, but then refuse to explain just what mistake was made.

The SAPS also needs to clarify:

(a) Whether a member of the public was shot or assaulted by members of the VIP Protection Unit. If so, under what circumstances this occurred. Ordinary road users are understandably distressed by the notion of being pulled over and shot at for driving too close to a motorcade - if there were extenuating circumstances in this case, this needs to be made clear. Otherwise, criminal charges need to be brought against the officers in question, and urgent steps need to be taken to rectify how officers in the VIP Protection Unit behave and are monitored.

(b) Whether officers tampered with the SABC's footage in any way. If this is the case, it must be ascertained whether senior officers were involved or in any way aware of this.

The DA will also submit these two queries to the Minister of Safety and Security as a parliamentary question.

Statement issued by Dianne Kohler Barnard, MP, Democratic Alliance spokesperson on safety and security, January 9 2008