Tangeni Amupadhi and Miepje Commandeur
IT was detective Johan Wiese’s birthday on Wednesday, and the present he wanted was to arrest a few drug dealers, preferably Nigerians. He was to be disappointed.
After three hours prowling Johannesburg’s Hillbrow district, Wiese and five colleagues – the cream of the city’s drug busters – had to settle for three allegedly illegal immigrants, an envelope of dagga and less than a gram of cocaine.
And getting that much took some effort. “Why do you Nigerians give us so many problems? Why do you come to South Africa,” fumed Wiese’s colleague as he slapped Alexander OE – who insisted his name was Mr Everest – on the back of his clean-shaven head. “Not all Nigerians do,” Everest replied in a soft, polite tone. But the officer insisted.
The slapping – done both by black and white detectives -started just after 4pm, after previous frustrations. Earlier in the day, sitting in their offices at John Vorster Square, the crack squad of South African Narcotics Bureau (Sanab) detectives had decided to hit the Nigerians in “Hellbrow” – the usual fallback when larger plans are postponed. Busts in Hillbrow usually involve more than two detectives because often a shoot-out ensues between police and the drug dealers.
But the first stop at a block of flats produced nothing and Wiese’s men believed they had been given wrong information.
Everest was found at the entrance of a Hillbrow hotel on the second stop.
It took a few slaps, pushing and shoving before he led them to his room. He initially gave a wrong name and address. A receptionist pointed out that Everest lived in the hotel, and Wiese caught him out when he discovered the names on his passport did not correspond to the asylum form, supposedly issued by the Department of Home Affairs.
Now on the fourth floor of the Mark Hotel, the Sanab men were all over Everest’s room, turning the bed upside down, checking every bag and book, even removing part of the ceiling in search for drugs, particularly cocaine or “rocks” – a hardened form of cocaine going for up to R60.
As they were searching, Wiese’s men discovered a dead pigeon nestled in the ceiling. Everest was surprised and disgusted by the decomposed corpse, but was not allowed to throw it out of his room. “Put it among his clothes in his wardrobe,” one of the detectives said. Everest did not look happy.
Wiese’s group then checked out another “Nigerian” caught with Everest, who also gave a false address. The march on which he led the detectives included a brief interlude in a room where a couple were locked in an animated afternoon sex session.
After some hard slappings, the man finally took police to a room in another hotel, The Sands. Again the ransacking drew a blank. The only evidence showing the owner of the room might deal or use “rocks” was a small plastic bag full of gauze which is used for “batting” – smoking a pipe.
As we were going down the stairs, the Sanab team found one “rock” which one officer used to try to coerce the man into admitting that he was a dealer. “Look, I found this in your pocket … where are the other drugs? Now you are busted, and you’re illegal in this country.”
Asked why they were intimidating suspects, Wiese said he and his colleagues often snap because of lies and attempts to mislead the detectives. “You know that they’re lying and that makes you so angry.”
A third suspect, also judged to be Nigerian, had to carry with him to the police station a brand-new vacuum cleaner which he claimed he was repairing for someone else.
The Sanab detectives, admitting it was an unsuccessful day, said the “Nigerians” will be deported – it was almost their consolation prize.
Before they accepted it, however, there was a chance for one more bust.
Tipped off by concerned neighbours, Wiese’s men pounced on a house in Berea. The woman occupant duly admitted that her lover often smokes dagga. Wiese confiscated an envelope of dagga and warned the man not to smoke in the house. The police were disappointed not to find Nigerians there.
Wiese says over 80% of dealers are from Nigeria. “It is only them, who else? When South Africa opened up to the rest of the world, the Nigerians started to bring the drugs.”
There are 2 500 registered political refugees in the country but police estimate there are more than 50 000 illegal Nigerians in Hillbrow alone.
Sanab’s obsession with Nigerians has been translated into what appears to be the unit’s anthem based on Sasol’s television commercial: “Windy, windy, windy, windy” becomes “Nigy, nigy, nigy, nigy”.
But Wiese says Sanab’s Johannesburg unit has too few staff to deal with the Nigerian drug barons. The unit has only 19 detectives and five officers – compared to 70 five years ago – and each of them works an average 15 hours a day.
And staff are leaving. Wiese and partner Inspector Jacque Botha want to quit soon, because they are “sick” of the job which, between them, they have done for 11 years. They decided on Wednesday evening rather to celebrate Wiese’s birthday over drinks.