News24 | VIP unit attack: Mashatile only realised 2 cars were at the ‘crime scene’ when he got home, says Cele

Deputy President Paul Mashatile only “realised at home” that two cars of his motorcade weren’t with him and didn’t “know what happened”, Police Minister Bheki Cele told the Portfolio Committee on Police. “What happened” was that eight heavily armed VIP police officers attached to his security detail on 2 July dragged two men from the VW Polo they were travelling in on the N1 in Gauteng and kicked them while they were lying on the ground. This was captured on video by another motorist and soon did the rounds on social media leading to national opprobrium, and Cele admitted to the committee on Wednesday that it put the police “on the little bit of a back foot”.

While the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) and the police hid behind the “sub judice rule”, and didn’t present any information not already in the public domain on the incident to the committee, MPs zoomed in on where Mashatile was during the incident. IFP MP Zandile Majozi asked whether Mashatile was left unattended during the incident. “If he was, is it not another charge that they left a deputy president of the country unattended, vulnerable, .

. . just to go and beat up ordinary citizens?” she added.

ACDP leader Kenneth Meshoe and EFF MP Vusi Khoza asked a similar question. DA MP Okkie Terblanche said Mashatile’s office first indicated he was not part of this convoy, but later confirmed he was indeed part of the convoy. “Why was this obviously wrong information given to the public?” he asked.

He also wanted to know whether Mashatile witnessed what happened and, if so, what he did to address it. Cele said the deputy president’s convoy usually has seven cars – six from the police and one from the South African National Defence Force, which is, according to Cele, a “medical kind of a car”. “Now, the DP [Mashatile] was in the convoy, was not on the crime scene where, I think, two of his cars, they pulled off to deal with that matter,” said Cele.

READ | VIP cops booked ‘prematurely’, court says; NPA argues a threatened witness gave it a need for speed “Talking to him, he realised at home that there were two cars that peeled off. Realised at home. Did not know until was told later, or so, later, that that incident has happened.

” He says this means that five cars continued with Mashatile to his home. “And indeed, it can be explained with discipline, or explained in court, what was the impact of that peeling off and what made them to peel off when the rest of the convoy was running forward. ” The court Cele was referring to is the Randburg Magistrate’s Court, where Shadrack Molekatlane Kojoana, Johannes Matome Mampuru, Pomso Joseph Mofokeng, Harmans Madumetja Ramokhonami, Phineas Molefo Boshielo, Churchill Mpakamaseni Mkhize, Lesibana Aggrie Rambau and Moses Fhatuwani Tshidada – all members of the Presidential Protection Unit – are facing 12 charges, including pointing a firearm, reckless and negligent driving, malicious damage to property, assault with the intent to cause grievous bodily harm, obstruction of justice, and assault by way of threat.

They were released on bail of R10 000 earlier this month, and the case has been postponed until 27 September. According to national police commissioner Fannie Masemola, they are still suspended with pay, but they were not paid while they were incarcerated. While IPID said that the investigation, which they are conducting “without fear or favour”, is progressing well, IPID executive director Jennifer Ntlatseng said they couldn’t divulge too much, because it is “sub judice”.

“It’s not because we are dodging; it is because we also know it is questions that can be asked in a court of law,” said Ntlatseng. The National Assembly’s rule 89 states: “Matters sub judice: No member may reflect upon the merits of any matter on which a judicial decision in a court of law is pending. ” A Supreme Court of Appeal ruling in 2007, to which Terblanche referred, created a new test for sub judice, in terms of which the rule will only be breached if there is a real risk that demonstrable prejudice will be caused to the administration of justice.

It must also be shown that the harm caused by the publication of the information is greater than what the harm would be by limiting the flow of information. In several instances over the last few years, Parliament’s legal advisors also told committees that the sub judice rule could not be invoked to scupper oversight. However, only one MP, Terblanche, said that he disagrees that the matter is sub judice.

A statement released after the meeting by the acting chairperson, ANC MP Nocks Seabi, reads: “The committee meanwhile accepts that the matter is currently receiving the necessary attention in court and will await the outcome thereof. Nonetheless, the committee reiterated that internal disciplinary processes must continue and urged SAPS to ensure these processes are completed urgently. ” During the meeting, DA MP Andrew Whitfield said it is “becoming abundantly clear to South Africans [that] police abuse is pervasive”.

He said the public knows that the police will cover up for their own. “There is absolutely no culture of impunity,” countered Cele. He said all organisations have problems where “members go wayward”.

“There will be individuals who are out of order, and accordingly, you deal with them,” Cele said. NFP MP Munzoor Shaik-Emam said: “I hear a lot about police brutality, police abuse. One thing I don’t hear about, is the number of police officers that are gunned down mercilessly at the hands of criminals.

So, it seems like we are concentrating more on the protection of the rights of criminals. ” This set Cele off on a long discussion about the conditions in which police officers work, not specific to VIP police officers. READ | VIP unit attack: ‘We have never been positively identified’ – say officers Meshoe asked whether the convoy drives the same – the high speed, blue lights, forcing people to make way for them – when the person they are protecting is not in the convoy.

Masemola responded: “The convoy remains a convoy, whether the principal is in or not, the convoy remains and moves the same. ” He argued that if they behaved differently, it would give out “security information” about whether “the principal” was in the convoy or not. Masemola also didn’t want to say how many police officers are part of Mashatile’s convoy “for the benefit of the security of the DP”.

Masemola said: “You will now and then experience such an incident. ” He added that it is “regrettable” and the police “will take steps”. According to the police’s presentation, their internal investigation (separate from the criminal matter) is at an “advanced stage”.

“Once the investigation is finalised, management will implement the recommendations of the internal investigation in terms of the disciplinary regulations,” reads the presentation. “The SAPS management is prioritising the internal department processes to ensure that the matter is finalised without any delay. ”.