Latest police brutality incident shows need for Commission of Inquiry

Yet another video documenting police brutality has emerged today.

Shocking footage of a woman being assaulted in Smithfield, Free State, by a plain clothed police officer as two of his on-duty colleagues look on was broadcast on eNCA this afternoon.

The officer in question, Warrant Officer Ernest Maratshane, is seen in the video hitting the woman and kicking her in the head. The on-looking police officers did not arrest him nor did they prevent him from continuing this assault. 

According to eNCA, the victim has not laid a formal charge and Officer Maratshane has not been arrested.

We welcome the fact that the Independent Police Investigative Directorate has already opened an investigation. However, we will be watching closely to ensure the harshest possible steps are taken against Warrant Officer Maratshane as well as his two colleges who must equally be prosecuted in terms of the law.

This latest incident of police brutality is further proof that there is major crisis in SAPS which needs to be addressed. We challenge President Zuma to retract his statement made in Parliament that there is no need for a full Judicial Commission of Inquiry into police brutality.

Indeed, neither President Zuma or Minister Mthethwa can continue to bury their head in the sand and do nothing when incidents like this continue to take place. 

We reiterate our call for a Commission of Inquiry, focussing on, but not be limited to:

• The root causes of the problem;
• The actions of senior leaders within and outside the police service which may or may not have encouraged this culture of brutality with impunity within our police service; and
• What can be done to eradicate this culture of brutality that has crept into the police service.

South Africans are tired and terrified of this police brutality. Minister Nathi Mthethwa and President Zuma must act to create a professional police service and not a trigger happy police force.

Statement issued by Dianne Kohler Barnard MP, DA Shadow Minister of Police, April 12 2013

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