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A disturbing video of KwaDukuza Township peacekeepers allegedly trying to get a four-year-old boy screaming out of a Chaka’s Rock compound while his father tries to get him out of them on Sunday morning has gone viral.
The North Coast Courier spoke to Paul * (37), one of the arrested men, who captured the viral video on his phone.
Paul told us that about ten officers came to the complex to arrest him and other families for not complying with the closing regulations.
Officers responded to a complaint after several families had been spotted on Chaka Rock beach around 7:30 a.m.
Families with their children were already on their way home when officers arrived to arrest them.
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“We were not near the beach when the police stormed the complex to arrest us in sight of our children who were completely overwhelmed when they saw their parents being taken away.
Paul’s wife said her daughter blamed herself for her father’s arrest and was still recovering from yesterday’s dramatic events.
The elderly couple, who have been walking on the same stretch of beach for the past 20 years, were taken with Umhlali SAPS and locked in detention cells for almost seven hours before being released on R1,000 bail.
He said that not all officers were wearing masks when they were arrested.
“The women were held in a separate cell from the men, and because the cells were so small, three meters by two meters, none of us could observe the social distancing.”
“They crossed the line behaving as they did, especially in front of our children,” he said.
Online commentators have accused the police of being a heavy hand after the video was posted on social media.
KwaDukuza municipal spokesman Sipho Mkhize said an internal investigation had been launched into a “dispute” between two of his officers with a father and son.
“The KwaDukuza municipality observes that the video makes rounds on social media of two of its peacekeepers who” appear “to be fighting with a father and child in the Chaka’s Rock area of Ballito,” Mkhize said.
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Mkhize said they do not condone any form of abuse against residents, particularly women and children.
“We are involved in an internal investigation to determine the facts of the entire incident, but we consider the emotional issues that the circulating video has caused.”
The municipality is expected to issue a formal statement once consultations with relevant parties have been completed.
“We call for calm and cooperation in our community as we strive to address this issue,” he said.
* Names have been changed to protect children’s identities.
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