Homevale Extension, Northern Cape - One of the two female traffic officers who was allegedly assaulted by a motorist, who allegedly refused to stop when he was pulled over during a routine operation on Monday, in Homevale Extension has come under fire from angry residents.
The residents have accused the traffic officer of lying to the public. They said she was the one who attacked the motorist.
The two traffic officers, Shakira Obaray and Carol Lepota, who work for Sol Plaatje Municipality, said on Monday that they had to defend themselves from a motorist, who is a foreign national, after he allegedly assaulted them while they were trying to arrest him.
According to them, the man had allegedly been driving his vehicle without a driver’s licence.
On Tuesday, however, residents pointed a finger at Obaray and Lepota, stating that the two officers had in fact arrived at the motorist’s house and woke him up, before dragging him out of his shanty to assault him.
“I was sitting outside my house (next to the man’s shop) when the two traffic officers arrived,” a resident, Charlotte Brown, said.
“Both Obaray and Lepota got out of their vehicle and Obaray walked around the man’s vehicle before they both went inside his shop where he was sleeping.”
She added that both Obaray and Lepota dragged the man towards their vehicle but he managed to free himself.
“He did not run away. He walked to his landlord’s house. The two traffic officers followed him and once again pulled him towards their vehicle and forced him into the front seat. Obaray then hit the man with a two-way radio on the head,” Brown explained.
The man’s landlady, Michelle Malander, confirmed this version of events and reiterated that the man was sleeping when the officers arrived. She said she was shocked to see how rude Obaray was towards the man.
Brown added that before the traffic officers took the motorist away to the police station, Obaray told the residents that she was going to “moer” (assault) him.
“What is shocking is that when the man was taken from the shop to the police station, he was not bleeding. We were shocked by reports from one of our community members, who went to see him at the police station, that he had been assaulted. Obaray must tell the public who assaulted this man,” Brown said.
Another community member, Shelton Andrews, said that it was strange that Obaray would assault the foreign national despite the fact that she was used to getting “free Cokes” from the foreigner.
“Obaray’s vehicle is always parked at this man’s shop and she collects free things from him. It is clear that on Tuesday (Monday) she did not get what she wanted and therefore assaulted this man,” Andrews alleged.
Obaray denied that she received “free things” from the man.
“Those people must state when it was they saw my vehicle parked at that man’s shop. I have never gone to park my vehicle there. The vehicle I am using has a tracker and my supervisor could have picked up on this pattern,” she said.
She said that she did nothing wrong, except to hit the man with her two-way radio in self-defence because he had attacked Lepota.
“I cannot comment on the injuries, perhaps the community members can explain those better. But I only fought the man in self-defence and in an attempt to save my colleague, and I only used minimum force during this incident. I don’t know what the residents are getting from this man but he was resisting arrest,” Obaray added.
Spokesman for the Sol Plaatje Municipality, Sello Matsie, said on Tuesday that all allegations regarding the incident had to be made with the police.
“Why are these allegations of free drinks (Obaray is allegedly receiving from the man) being made only now? It is difficult to give these allegations credibility because they are being made after the person has been arrested. Having said that, the municipality will take action should any of our traffic officers be found to be doing any wrong,” Matsie said.
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