Durban — An Umlazi woman who spoke about her experience on June 16, while at a local bar and car wash in the township’s Q section said a group of police officers who had come into the establishment that night sjamboked her for asking where their name badges were.
Early in July, The Daily News while reporting on an incident where a Pietermaritzburg SAPS member, who was allegedly manhandled by officers at a roadblock that took place on June 17, learned of a video where police stormed into this bar.
In the footage which the newspaper accessed on Wednesday, one of the officers is seen giving one sjambok lash to a patron as they are all made to lie on the ground. Another officer is seen knocking over alcohol and glasses off a table while a woman is lying curled under it.
“I got hit because I was asking where their name badges were; they did not tell us what it is they were doing there, they were just telling us to leave the place,” said a patron, who was there on the night of June 16 where an officer whipped her friend who tried to capture the unfolding scenes on her phone.
Speaking to the Daily News on Thursday, the woman who did not wish to be named, said she and her friends were seated at a table further back and they saw people running away and a neighbour told them the police had arrived on the scene.
“We saw no need to get up and run, we had done nothing wrong.”
She explained that they had been with one of their friends who, due to suffering from a previous medical condition, was unable to move around quickly.
“When we saw more people running we tried to move with my friend but she was heavier as she had been drinking. The police entered and a woman came to us and asked why we had not left. We asked her why they were chasing away people, and they began taking alcohol off tables. Again I asked why this is happening, does the owner not have a licence? Instead of responding to the question, the officer insisted we leave with no explanation as to why.”
She said while this was happening, the officer tried waking her friend, telling them to leave.
“We told them that she can’t walk properly for medical reasons; that’s when they started hitting us with their sjamboks. Our friend fell to the ground and when she was down, another officer kept kicking her with his boot, saying she must wake up,” said the woman, who explained that they all lived close to the establishment and frequented it.
One of the friends took out her phone trying to record the incident and said it was wrong. She alleged an officer took the phone and threw it onto the floor.
“Any one of us who would intervene, verbalising that what they were doing was wrong – they would hit us. And when I asked the female officer what all this was about, she threatened to pepper spray me. She was the only one speaking isiZulu all the others were speaking Setswana or Sesotho.”
Daily News