There are elements in the police services so rotten that it is a regular theme in films produced about South Africa. A recent one on Netflix called Wild is the Wind is about two officers who unwittingly let a serial killer go for a cash bribe – with devastating consequences, writes Gasant Abarder.
Abarder, who recently launched his book, Hack with a Grenade, is among the country’s most influential media voices. Catch his weekly column here, exclusive to Cape {town} Etc.
All eyes were on Sandton at the weekend as the United States warned of a terror threat in the bustling suburb. But right here on the N2 Highway I faced a terror threat of my own on Friday afternoon.
Driving home from Somerset West, a white Mercedes Benz Sprinter van came out of nowhere to veer into my path and force me to a dead stop in the middle of the roadway, close to the Jan Smuts off-ramp near Athlone and towards the city. I floored the brakes and came within mere millimetres of hitting the back of the van.
The next 30 seconds felt like a lifetime. I panicked and froze. My child then shouted, ‘Go, dad, go.” I looked behind and the car headed my way behind us had already signaled its hazards. This gave me a gap just long enough to reverse and speed out of danger.
My child then had the presence of mind to snap a few pics: of the driver, the number plate and the details of the owner of the vehicle.
I drove to the Athlone Police Station. My heart was racing. Inside the charge office was a queue for affidavits and to certify documents. A few others were there to report fender benders. If this was a hospital ER, the triage system certainly wasn’t working and people were going to die.
I decided to leave and drop my child at home. I would report the incident – to my mind then an attempted hijacking – at the Lansdowne Police Station. There was no one else in the charge office and when I announced to Constable Nganga that I wanted to report an incident he rolled his eyes.
“Where did it happen?” the booming voice of Sergeant Mathothi asked from the rear of the office. He then went on to berate me that I should’ve reported the incident at Athlone and the complaint would now take a month to get to. I was asked if the guy had a gun. I said I hadn’t stuck around to find out. Another Sergeant Breton kept insisting that no crime had actually been committed.
It was hopeless. I was being made to feel like the criminal. I headed back to the Athlone Police Station.
There were more folks for affidavits and to certify documents. When I finally had my turn, it was now two hours after the highway incident.
“I’m sorry, there is no case here,” said the Constable Matanzima. My protestations were met with her shaking her head. I left the charge office feeling angry and frustrated. I had all the details of the driver but the officers wouldn’t even look at them.
I took to Twitter and posted the images. This was no once-off act. There were at least two others on the platform that had similar experiences with this particular van. All of them confirmed the number plate, make and model and one of them also had a picture of the driver. The same guy.
Mayor Geordin-Hill Lewis was sympathetic and advised that this particular stretch of the N2 was well covered by close circuit television cameras. He promised to alert colleagues.
I decided to put the Western Cape Police Ombudsman’s office to the test and I complained about the inaction of the four officers at the two police stations who refused to register the complaint.
There was enough of a body of evidence to suggest this driver was a regular menace on the road. Many who had seen my posts had negative encounters with the same driver.
I don’t know what motivated this guy to attack us with his vehicle. But for me the bigger misdemeanour was committed by the four police officers. What if this guy was in fact a hijacker? Or the vehicle was stolen? Or used to traffic people? Or transport guns or drugs.
Instead, because of their inaction, everything suggests that the menacing driver is going to strike again. Is this why citizens don’t bother to report crimes? Are rape victims also interrogated and put through secondary trauma as if it is their fault? Is this how police stations keep the crime rate low by refusing to process genuine complaints from the public?
There are of course committed and hardworking police officers. But the ordeal leaves me with no confidence in our police and believing the good ones are in the minority. What if there really was a terror threat in Sandton? It may have been an unmitigated disaster if left up to the police.
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