North West Premier Thandi Modise welcomes action against Mothutlung water protest shooters
North West Premier Thandi Modise has welcomed action being taken against fourteen senior police officer implicated in the deaths of four people during the Mothutlung protest.
Premier Modise said that the culture of human rights and democratic policing has to be entrenched within the South African Police Service (SAPS) to ensure that the use of excessive force by police is brought to zero.
“When the actions of those who are supposed to protect our communities erode their rights, we have to be concerned and take actions against those who cross the line hence we commend the speedy conclusion of the departmental disciplinary proceedings by SAPS,” emphasised Premier Modise.
The Premier expressed hope that at the conclusion of the disciplinary hearings, the families that lost their loved ones will justice served in order to find closure.
“All of us have a responsibility to support efforts to restore trust between our communities and the police and contribute towards creating an environment for service delivery within Madibeng Local Municipality to be accelerated and for corruption to be uprooted,” underscored Modise.
According to the findings of the probe that was undertaken parallel to the independent police investigation directorate announced by Minister of Police, Nathi Mthethwa on Friday, Six of the officers have already been suspended, and others are facing the same fate. Minister Mthethwa said that the officers failed to follow proper crowd control protocol. Public order officers are said to have fired about 200 rounds during the water protests, but police insisted no live ammunition was used.
They said it was mostly rubber bullets and stun grenades, but they admitted that ammunition banned eight years ago was also fired.
“The rounds which are known as SSG or 12 gauge rounds with pellets so that's what they used there which was not supposed to be used," said Mthethwa.
The police minister said the use of shotgun pellets is unacceptable.
“Nobody should die particularly of how they are trained they are not trained to shoot at people they are trained to shoot in a particular way when dealing with crowds,” he said.
Enquiries:
Lesiba Moses Kgwele, Spokesperson
Tel: 018 388 3705
Cell: 083 629 1987
Fax: 018 388 3157
E-mail: LKgwele@gmail.com
