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- The city of Cape Town suspended two subway police officers who were caught on video pulling a man out of his wheelchair.
- The man is believed to have been part of a group of protesters who had gathered in front of the Civic Center to follow up on demands for the provision of services.
- Cape Town Mayor Dan Plato has apologized for the incident.
The city of Cape Town suspended two subway police officers who were caught on video throwing a man out of his wheelchair at a police station on Thursday.
Cape Town Mayor Dan Plato with Security and Safety Director Richard Bosman suspended officers after a video went viral on social media, where they could be seen overturning the man’s wheelchair.
Plato said:
Following a video that was shared on social media this morning about an incident involving two Cape Town Metropolitan Police officers and a member of the public in a wheelchair, I immediately discussed the matter with the Executive Director of Security and Protection of the City, Richard Bosman. who confirmed that both officers have been suspended with immediate effect pending the outcome of a full investigation.
In the video, the man can be seen in a heated exchange with one of the officers, while the other officer places his foot on the wheels of his chair to prevent the man from moving it.
After what appeared to be an argument between the man and the first officer, the officer attempts to forcibly move the man, and is then thrown out of his wheelchair.
Then the officer pushes the empty wheelchair.
A friend of the man brings the wheelchair and yells, “Why are you doing this to him ?!”
The man is believed to have been part of a group of protesters who gathered outside the Cape Town Civic Center to follow up on demands for service provision on Thursday.
READ | Protesters detained as they continue to pressure the city of Cape Town to provide services in new shacks
Plato apologized for the way the officers had handled the situation.
“I want to unreservedly apologize to the member of the public, whose name I do not yet know, for what he experienced this morning.
“The way this situation was handled is not what we expect from our staff.”
Twenty-eight people were arrested by police on Thursday outside the Civic Center, during a protest over the linking of services to the new informal settlements in Khayelitsha.
The group of about 80 protested near the Civic Center in the CBD, saying their patience was wearing thin after their requests that the sea of newly built huts in Khayelitsha get water, toilets and electricity, News24 reported.
The city of Cape Town has previously stated that the eThembeni settlement in question is on land that allegedly would have accommodated an upgrade to the pipelines connecting parts of Khayelitsha to the Zandvliet sewer plant, so residents of Khayelitsha sewerage services would have been improved.
This project appears to have stalled as the settlement grows.
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