A policeman belonging to a plot watch allegedly shot a black man for breaking the group’s 8pm ‘curfew’
Roshila Pillay
Vlakplaas, notorious as the base where former police hit squad commander Eugene de Kock and his squad murdered and tortured opponents of apartheid, is just over a kilometre from Gerardsville.
De Kock is in prison for life, but his name is borne proudly by the Gerardsville plot watch who call themselves “friends of Eugene”. De Kock is a familiar figure to many residents from his Vlakplaas days.
Two weeks ago members of the watch allegedly shot a black man who dared to walk in the area after their curfew of 8pm. A police officer is one of the suspects being investigated for the attempted murder.
At 9pm on a Saturday evening Gerardsville resident Sonnyboy Dube realised he had run out of cigarettes. He went to a spaza shop with a friend, Simon Ndlovu. As they walked back, they halted at a stop sign to wait for a red 4×4 to pass them.
The 4×4 stopped. A man clutching a can of beer got out of the car while the driver and another passenger looked on. “What did you say?” the man asked Ndlovu. “I didn’t say anything,” was Ndlovu’s response, one he was to regret.
Ndlovu claims the man then punched him on his right cheek, sending him sprawling and then continued to assault him.
“When I tried to go to Simon, the other passenger got out carrying a gun. When I saw the gun, I turned to run away and the man shot my leg,” Dube alleges.
Dube ran away with his attacker chasing after him, shouting, “Kaffir, I am going to kill you,” and firing five shots at him. He escaped and a friend drove him to the Erasmia police station, where an ambulance was summoned to take him to Kalafong hospital.
After he was released from hospital the next day he went to find Ndlovu. “His face was so swollen he could not see,” says Dube. The two men went to a doctor to obtain a medical report for Ndlovu and filed charges at Erasmia police station. “I laid charges for attempted murder, pointing a firearm and calling me a kaffir,” says Dube.
A source told the Mail &Guardian that after Dube had fled the scene, the attackers allegedly put Ndlovu in the back of the 4×4 and continued assaulting him. They then asked Ndlovu to take them to Dube. Ndlovu took them to Dube’s girlfriend, who let the men into the house after one of the attackers showed her his police identification. She recognised the man as a sergeant from the Erasmia station.
The men put Dube’s girlfriend in the car with Ndlovu and went in search of Dube. They pursued a car leaving Gerardsville and allegedly shot at the occupants, thinking it was Dube.
When they realised it was not him, they gave up the chase and left Ndlovu and Dube’s girlfriend at the local caf, giving Dube’s girlfriend explicit instructions to “come see them” when Dube returned. The address they gave her is that of the sergeant who allegedly shot Dube.
Dube claims the policeman who shot him sent someone to offer him R500 to drop all charges. He refused to accept the money.
“During the day [the Sunday following the attack], the station commander and the branch commander went to the suspect’s house and took his firearm for ‘safekeeping’. This firearm is supposed to have been given in as an exhibit. Nothing has been done up to now the scene has not even been investigated,” says the source.
A Gerardsville resident, who wishes to remain anonymous, says the plot watchers’ activities are common knowledge in the area but because police members are involved the police turn a blind eye .
“When I moved to the area, they [the plot watchers] told me they don’t like changes in Gerardsville. I was also instructed to pay no more than R30 a day to a black worker,” says the resident.
A plot watch member refused to comment on membership. “Until you belong to the plot watch it has nothing to do with people outside,” she says. The plot watch members take turns patrolling the area at night. They are equipped with radio which keeps them in direct contact with the police and a cellphone for emergencies.
“If you find someone walking in the area you report it to the next member on duty and give them a description of that person. If the person is still walking around when that member is patrolling, then he is a loiterer and we follow him.”
The member also said police living in the area were part of the plot watch.
Thebe* (16) has also experienced the wrath of Gerardsville’s plot watchers. Last Saturday he visited his stepfather, who is a gardener in the Gerardsville area.
“A man in a car stopped me and asked me where I’m coming from. I told him I was coming from my father’s work because I wanted to get money from him to buy shoes,” says Thebe. The man allegedly shoved Thebe into his car and took him to Erasmia police station and told the police he wanted to “fuck me up”.
Thebe describes how members of the plot watch stopped his sister Angela* (20) while she was walking in the area recently and accused her of being a mogosha [prostitute]. They then ordered her to leave the area.
According to the source, Dube’s case has been withdrawn by the commander of the investigating unit, Captain Gert Smith, and no one has been arrested yet.
But Erasmia police station commander Commissioner Faan Steynberg confirmed that warning statements have been issued to three suspects. Steynberg declined to comment on whether one of the suspects was a policeman “until I receive the senior prosecutor’s decision”.
Steynberg said “firearms” were found and have been sent for ballistic tests. He said the sensitivity of the case made it necessary for Smith to take over from investigating officer, Inspector Jimmy Hlungoane.
“The docket is now with Andre Weideman from the senior state prosecutor’s office. We are waiting for his decision,” says Steynberg.
However Weideman, senior prosecutor for the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court, denies receipt of the docket. “I haven’t got the docket. I know the police are waiting for a ballistic report before they submit it to me,” he says.
Weideman confirmed that Smith is investigating the case “because one of the suspects involved is a policeman”. Smith confirmed one of the suspects is part of the plot watch.
The station’s charge officer, Sergeant Peter Morudu, discovered that the case file contains only the statements made by Dube, his girlfriend and Ndlovu.
“There is no report and only one charge for attempted murder,” says Morudu.
* Names have been changed.