The police on Monday defended the conduct of the special task force (STF) aboard the South African Airways (SAA) plane that was subject to a hijacking attempt on the weekend.
”Obviously, from the police side, it is regrettable that some passengers feel they have been traumatised, but at the end of the day their safety was the primary concern,” spokesperson Director Sally de Beer said.
Newspapers reported on Monday that some passengers aboard the flight that a Zimbabwean student allegedly attempted to hijack on Saturday were sworn at and slapped by police when they came aboard the aircraft after it had landed at Cape Town International airport.
The slightly built Zimbabwean University of Cape Town (UCT) student, Tinashe Rioga (21), appeared briefly in the Bellville Magistrate’s Court on Monday in connection with the alleged aircraft hijacking attempt.
Rioga was overpowered by fellow passengers on board a domestic flight from Cape Town to Johannesburg on Saturday.
In court, Rioga said he would like the court to assist him in initially applying for legal aid.
”My family will finalise arrangements,” he said.
Rioga, who allegedly wielded a hypodermic syringe during the incident, faces a charge of contravening aviation regulations in that he attempted ”to seize [an] aircraft in flight”.
He also faces a charge of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm.
Magistrate David Tomisi postponed the matter to June 26 for further bail information.
De Beer explained that the STF’s primary function was to deal with high-risk operations that could not be dealt with effectively by other units of the police.
”This would include hostage situations on land, sea or in the air as well as incidents of urban or rural terrorism.
”I can’t really speak about this specific incident as debriefings are still going on and some of it is court-directed evidence, but our standard operating procedures [SOP] are such that, where there are hostages on a plane, the STF will always be first aboard to secure the plane and ensure the safe evacuation of passengers,” De Beer added.
”… and when they board that plane they can never make assumptions such as that there was only a single hostage taker, acting alone. There could be a sleeper among the passengers that will only become active when all their other plans have failed.
”STF members have to dominate the situation from the moment they board and our SOPs are in line with international standards.
”People complained about them shouting, but this is SOP for verbal dominance — passengers to look down and lean forward with hands over their heads — there are tactical reasons for doing this.
”It must be understood that compliance with instructions in this type of situation is of paramount importance,” De Beer said.
She said she was not aware of any formal complaints against the police by passengers, but added that Western Cape police would be in a better position to know if there were any.
Provincial police spokesperson Inspector Bernadine Steyn said she had spoken to officers at the airport police station and no complaints had been lodged there after the incident.
A staffer at the Independent Complaints Directorate in Cape Town said she was unaware of any complaints. — Sapa