AFP, OWN CORRESPONDENT, AFRICAN EYE NEWS SERVICE, Johannesburg | Thursday
POLICEMEN from the Pietersburg dog unit are being investigated after dogs were let loose on about 15 people who were dropping off garbage or collecting goods for recycling at a municipal dumpsite.
The attack last week Thursday is similar to an incident aired on national television this week in which North East Rand dog unit members set their dogs on three suspected illegal immigrants as part of an informal dog training session. The six suspects in this case appeared in the Pretoria Regional Court on Thursday and were remanded in custody until their bail hearing on November 17.
Meanwhile, the Pietersburg case is being investigated by the Safety and Security department and the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD).
Only four of the victims have reported the matter and the department is searching for the others.
The entire group were detained overnight at Pietersburg police station, but were released the following morning without being charged.
Prophetically, the ICD issued a statement before the Pietersburg case came to light, saying the brutality and racism shown by the six white dog handlers was not an isolated incident, and is a “manifestation of the widespread brutality across the colour bar and ranks”.
“This is the tip of the iceberg, most of these incidents are probably hidden,” said Karen McKenzie, the director of the ICD, which investigates complaints against the police.
She said the ICD was currently investigating four complaints against dog units in three provinces.
From March 1999 to April this year, 764 cases of serious criminal offences by members of the police were reported to the ICD, and 200 cases from April to August this year.
Video footage broadcast on state television this week, shot in 1998, showed dogs on leashes being repeatedly set on the three alleged illegal immigrants in a field outside Johannesburg as the policemen work them into a frenzy with shouted commands.
The film was apparently shot by another policeman to train dog-handlers, but police could not confirm this. The six implicated in the dog attack have been arrested and charged with attempted murder.
Racism is common within the ranks of the South African Police Services (SAPS), the largest police union declared.
“This is not new to us, racist incidents are happening almost every day in the operations of the SAPS [South African Police Service],” said the president of the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union, Zizamele Cebekhulu.