ActionSA writes to IPID to investigate Gauteng Blue Light VIP SAPS assault incident

4 July 2023

ActionSA has written to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) head Dikeledi Jennifer Ntlatseng to urgently investigate the incident where members of the South African Police Service (SAPS) VIP unit assaulted three South Africans on the side of a Gauteng highway.

The SAPS - regardless of their rank or in which unit they work - have no authority to assault any person on any grounds, therefore their actions clearly violate South African law. We are not an oppresive regime or a police state, citizens have the right to be tried in a court of law before being punished - and even then, physical assault is prohibited.

The primary function of police is to maintain law and order, and to protect and serve the South African public, instead, the SAPS is increasingly losing the war on crime, are sadly often implicated in covering up crimes for the elite in our society such as with the Phala Phala matter implicating President Curil Ramaphosa.

ActionSA believes IPID head Ntlatseng has the power, according to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate Act of 2011, to investigate all incidences of police misconduct to ensure that the officials found to be guilty of misconduct are held accountable.

There can be no argument that the rule of law is an integral part of ensuring that our society is functional, and that citizens and visitors alike feel safe and are protected from harm.

To that end, 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 that those officers seen in the video that exposed their behaviour are held accountable for assaulting members of the public.

Issued by Herman Mashaba, ActionSA President, 4 July 2023