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By Lyse Comins 
13h ago
They were charged with “being on the beach when closed to the public” before each being released on R1000 bail and told to appear in court in August. Among them was the boy’s father who was “captured” by the KwaDukuza traffic police.
On Monday, a video went viral on social media of two officers who grabbed the 4-year-old boy as he walked behind his father inside an i * Ballito compound on the north shore of KwaZulu-Natal. The father was later arrested.
Several parents, who spoke to The Mercury on condition of anonymity for fear of being victims, denied that they were on the beach. They claim that they were walking on a road near their homes that leads to the beach when traffic officers arrested them.
One resident said she had left her home just before 8 am to walk with her husband and two children and never imagined that it would end in her arrest.
“On our way back to our apartment, we were arrested by officers, who said we were on the beach. We were not at the beach. We were arrested on a path that leads to the beach. “
She said about 10 traffic officers stopped in unmarked vehicles and arrested them and several other people, including the father in the video.
“When they approached us, the officer said: today we arrested you today for being on the beach; you broke a law, “he said.
She said officers allowed them to take their children home, then took them to the police station where they were accused of “being on the beach when it is closed to the public.”
“The father in the video also received permission to take his children home and the officers accompanied him. Suddenly we hear screaming. When he returned, they handcuffed him and the officers said it was because he was resisting arrest, “he said.
She said the residents were handed over to Umhlali police officers and placed in “dirty cells”.
“I am a law abiding citizen. I don’t even break the speed limit. We teach our children to comply with the laws of the Lord and with their country, “he said.
“We thought that people were allowed on the beach. From our apartment we could see tons of people running and walking on the beach. The lifeguards also told people that they could run on the beach. I didn’t know it was illegal to be on the beach. The injustice of all this is very frustrating, “he said.
The resident who filmed the video of the “kidnapped” boy was also arrested at the top of the road where he was walking with his daughter.
He said he had accompanied the boy’s father to the complex. He said 11 people, including an octogenarian couple, had been arrested after walking down the road.
“They put on their shoes and they didn’t even touch the sand and they were arrested. They were very upset,” he said.
He said he had asked a lifeguard last week if he was allowed to walk on the beach.
“He said he wasn’t sure, but he would find out. I came back a few days later and they were all walking on the beach. The lifeguard said, ‘Okay, you can walk on the beach but you can’t swim.’
Durban’s criminal lawyer Wesley Rogers said he had sent an open letter to acting KwaDukuza Mayor Dolly Govender, requesting the suspension of the officers and a criminal investigation.
He also suggested that the traffic police undergo legal training “to prevent another serious violation of the law and abuse of power, so that the municipality is not exposed to a large number of civil lawsuits.”
Rogers said he had written the letter to defend the Constitution and hold the police accountable to prevent the country from returning to a police state.
“In my practice, I frequently deal with abuse of power by the police and now, in closing, state entities need public acceptance. If your assumption is that the police can violate the law while pretending to enforce the law, the public will lose faith in the police and we will have increased the incidence of public disobedience, “said Rogers.
The KwaDukuza municipality said in a statement on its Twitter account last night that it conducted an internal investigation into the incident.
The municipality said its officers received a complaint about the blockade regulations that were breached at Shakas Rock Tidal Beach and that 11 people were arrested.
He said the boy seen in the video “was handled in terms of the Children’s Law, and was taken to a safe place after the arrest of the father who works for the Department of Health.”
The municipality said the man “causing drama” in the video had fled to avoid being arrested.
Prime Minister Sihle Zikalala said he had commissioned MEC for Transport, Community Security and Liaison Bheki Ntuli and MEC for Cooperative Government and Traditional Affairs Sipho Hlomuka to conduct an urgent investigation into the incident.
He warned that while municipal officials were mandated to keep the peace during the shutdown, child abuse would not be tolerated as it was a violation of the Constitution.
The Mercury
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