The presence of a Krugersdorp riot unit fanned the flames of racial tension in the violent clash at Orlando police station, writes Stefaans Brummer
THE strike at Orlando East police station in Soweto last month exploded in ugly racial confrontation — and resulted in the death of a striking policeman — because of the chance presence of Krugersdorp’s all- white riot squad in the township on an “image building”
An independent team investigating the riot squad’s violent intervention in the strike this week told Gauteng Safety and Security MEC Jessie Duarte that the inquiry had been “severely hampered and frustrated” by the refusal of Soweto police management to attend hearings or make submissions.
A source close to the inquiry — which was led by arbitrators from the Independent Mediation Service of South Africa — said senior officers, including Soweto district commissioner Brigadier Chris Earle and his deputy Brigadier Johan van den Heever, had refused to co-operate. He said he believed one reason for their refusal was that they did not want to answer questions on the involvement of the Krugersdorp unit in the assault on the Orlando East strikers.
Although the inquiry report did not mention the units involved on January 27 in breaking up the strike, Soweto police liaison officers confirmed this week that they were the Internal Stability Division (ISD) from Protea police station in Soweto, a dog unit from Soweto, and the Krugersdorp ISD. Warrant Officer Jabulani Xaba was killed during the clash and a number of his colleagues injured.
Soweto does not fall under the jurisdiction of Krugersdorp police. While the Soweto units are racially mixed, Krugersdorp’s ISD is predominantly, if not entirely, white.
Soweto police liaison officer Lieutenant-Colonel Andre Scriven said senior police management had not co- operated with the inquiry because they “did not want to anticipate” the pending criminal investigation into Xaba’s death.
“They preferred to exercise their right to silence as it was their legal prerogative.”
Two prominent Soweto police officers told the Weekly Mail & Guardian that Krugersdorp ISD members were not habitually deployed in Soweto, as the township was not in Krugersdorp’s jurisdiction, and as Soweto, in any case, had its own ISD unit at Protea police station.
Scriven denied the Krugersdorp unit had been called to Soweto specifically to deal with the Orlando East strike. The unit had been at the township’s Doornkop squatter settlement on an “image building operation” that day, handing out Crimestop material. “I think they heard on the (police) radio that reinforcements were necessary at Orlando East, and they responded,” he
The inquiry report, released on Tuesday, recommended that disciplinary and possibly criminal action be taken against ISD members involved in “the patently unlawful assaults, the racial abuse and the inhumane treatment of (the strikers) once they had been apprehended” and against the officers responsible, “particularly those who ordered the commencement of the shooting and, according to evidence, the firing of teargas canisters in the direction of residents who had gathered in the
It said: “The station premises were overrun by the ISD policemen and, throughout the open areas, the protesting members were rounded up, and forced to lie face-down on a grass verge in the corner of the area with their hands behind their heads.
“Evidence was given by numerous witnesses of severe assaults, coupled with racial abuse, carried out by members of the ISD in the course of that operation. One witness, who was at the time on duty in the charge office, stated that, as the ISD policemen entered the office, he, among others on duty there, was severely
`He was `banged against the counter’, told that he was being arrested because he was `hardegat’, disarmed, told to lift his hands, and was then assaulted, kicked and hit with rifle butts. His private parts were grabbed and he was pushed against, and attacked and bitten by, police dogs.” He was refused medical
The report said the arrested strikers were locked up in police trucks for more than six hours, in the heat of day, without water or ablution facilities, until their
The report said although Earle had refused to make submissions to the inquiry, he had acknowledged in an earlier radio interview that he had ordered the ISD’s intervention. It said Earle had named Van den Heever as having been in charge of the operation.
The report detailed a history of racial discrimination against black policemen and women at Orlando East which had led to the strike. It listed allegations of, among others, racial slurs against black colleagues by a Major De Klerk, second-in-command at the police station, and of black staff members being overlooked for promotion.
“It was even stated by one witness that the frustration of the promotion of black policemen was partially motivated by the fact that, if so promoted, they would be in a position to use toilets specifically designated for the use of officers,” the report said.
This week a black sergeant at Orlando East police station pointed to where a sign saying “officers” had recently been removed from one of two men’s rooms.
Although he is an officer, and although the sign had been removed, he said he still used only the second facility, marked “men”. He said the officer/men distinction had clearly been a racial divide.