The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) in the Gauteng
Province has noted with disgust a video that has since gone viral which shows a
female Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) officer being attacked by
two male individuals outside Pan Africa Mall in Alexandra.
As seen in the video, despite attempts by fellow colleagues to restrain the two
individuals, they continually assault the officer until she falls on the ground.
The officer was later rushed to hospital following the injuries which she
sustained during the brutal assault.
Despite being in the company of other officers who were all on duty, the
assault continued on the officer. It may seem as though other officers may have
tried to exercise restraint in order to defuse and not escalate the situation.
We however believe that more should have been done to protect the life and
dignity of the officer and exercising such restraint may be interpreted as a
sign of weakness by criminals.
We urge members of the public not to interfere with law enforcement officers
executing their duties, no matter how uncomfortable they are with the execution
of such duties. JMPD officers are here to serve and protect the 5 million
residents of the City by enforcing by-laws and also ensuring that residents of
the City are safe at all times.
We further commend the swiftness of JMPD in returning to the scene and
arresting two suspects linked to the assault. We would want to see the full
might of the law being applied to these suspects so a message is sent out to
others that assault will and cannot be tolerated against law enforcement
officers.
Issued SAMWU Gauteng Province
Bafana Zungu
Provincial Secretary
083 615 3571
Or
Anna Ntuli
Deputy Provincial Secretary
082 653 6443