SA police like ZRP

Zille was complaining over last Wednesdays arrest, at gunpoint, of a University of Cape Town (UCT) student by officers from President Jacob Zumas VIP protection unit. The opposition leader, whose party controls South Africas tourism hub of the Western Cape, said that the circumstances surrounding the arrest and detention of Chumani Maxwele (25) after he had allegedly gestured at the President’s motorcade indicated a violation of the students constitutional rights by the South African Police Service (SAPS).

These are the tactics of a police state, not a democracy, said Zille in a statement released Wednesday. They are reminiscent of Robert Mugabes Zimbabwe that the ANC is increasingly trying to emulate.

She accused the SAPS of using the same tactics employed by the Apartheid-era security police. Maxwele was allegedly arrested at gun point, had a bag pulled over his head, and was then subjected to a torrent of insults and intimidation from police and intelligence officials over a period of 24 hours, while National Intelligence Agency officers raided his house. I will investigate the matter and take further action as necessary. Following the visit to the Mowbray Police Station, I am scheduled to meet Minister of Police, Nathi Mthethwa, at noon today, she said.

Drawing parallels between Zuma and Mugabe, Zille said that last weeks incident was just the latest in a series of shameful incidents involving VIP unit officials and recounted various similar incidents that have happened since 2008. In June 2008, a VIP officer on Jacob Zuma’s armed convoy fired three shots at the vehicle of an 84-year-old motorist who was deemed a “threat”, said Zille.

Later that year, in November, a VIP officer attached to the KwaZulu-Natal Social Development MEC’s security detail, shot the tyre of a Mazda that did not move quickly enough out of his way, causing a head-on collision with a bakkie.

On that occasion, at least six other people were injured, but the driver simply sped off. Then in January last year, a VIP officer on Kgalema Motlanthe’s cavalcade shot an unarmed motorist after he “got too close” in the traffic, and officers subsequently seized and deleted material from a SABC cameraman who recorded part of the incident. In another incident in April last year, a VIP unit officer on his way to collect the Mayor of Msunduzi spat in the eye of a woman motorist.

What all of these incidents have in common is that not one single officer has been brought to book. The VIP officer responsible for firing at the 84-year-old motorist escaped punishment in January this year; the officer in KwaZulu-Natal has used a high-powered lawyer to get the case stuck in the courts; no arrests were made over the man being shot in the arm (instead, the police arrested the victim); and no subsequent action has been taken over the Msunduzi incident either.

Under the ANC, there is one law for Jacob Zuma and his cronies, and another for the rest of the country.