Cape Town - The non-profit organisation Nehemiah Call Initiative Organisation has called on the provincial police management to launch an investigation into the conduct and behaviour of police members in the Mitchells Plain area.
This after yet another police operation in Mitchells Plain where homeless people’s structures that occupied a field at the corner of AZ Berman Drive and 8th Avenue were allegedly dismantled on Friday.
At the centre of the organisation’s complaint to the provincial police commissioner and the police ombudsman are two police captains whom the organisation said had been at the forefront of these operations which it said were tantamount to bullying and intimidation.
The organisation’s complaint follows a similar one submitted by activist Deon Carelse to the provincial complaints inspectorate.
Carelse slammed the police’s constant intimidation of the homeless. He accused police of interfering with the law enforcement officers’ work. The matter warranted enforcement of by-laws by the municipality and not constant harassment by police, he said.
Nehemiah Call Initiative Organisation founder Dean Ramjoomia said those living in informal structures in and around the town centre had for some time been under constant attack by police during “so-called operations”, done without serving eviction notices or interdicts.
“Over the past year and more members of the Mitchells Plain police station had made themselves guilty of what could only be referred to as sustained illegal and unlawful harassment and intimidation of people living on the streets.
“During these operations, people are verbally abused, mistreated, harassed, and intimidated, and their homes/structures are broken down with people still in them.
“In one such operation, places were broken down on top of women with one woman partially naked while she was washing,” he said.
Ramjoomia said this had been ongoing without a response from police management at the local station.
“I had been physically assaulted by a constable in the presence of a warrant officer in January and I’m yet to hear from the police station after the case was reported to the provincial office,” he said.
He said while attention was placed on people living on the streets in the area, there were zero attempts to curb the operations of gangs and open public drug dealing in the area.
Police spokesperson Andre Traut said the operations were to curb criminality in the area and that criminals must expect more similar operations in future.
Traut said no structures were demolished by police on Friday, adding that the police do not have the mandate to demolish shacks, as this can only be done when it is mandated by a court order.
“Any person who is of the opinion that SAPS have operated outside the boundaries of the law is encouraged to lodge an official complaint with IPID so that the allegations can be probed,” he said.