Take a look at
this video footage broadcast by eNCA on South African television. Take specific note of the scene that is shown
35 seconds into the video. It shows a
South African Policemen clearly hitting an unarmed man on the back of his
head.
The incident occurs when a group of policemen trap an unarmed man against a building. One of the policemen then indicates to the man that he should run away. As the man obeys, another policemen steps forward and hits the man across the back of the head, before allowing him to run away as instructed by the first policemen.
After the recent violence and brutal killings during the Marikana miners strike, one would think that members of the South African Police Service would have been well briefed about the rights of civilians and the duty of the police to not only uphold the law, but to themselves obey the law. Yet clearly this did not happen.
It does not matter what our personal opinion may be about the striking De Doorn workers and the actions that they have taken during the strike. We South Africans need to unite in showing absolutely no tolerance whatsoever when our South African Police Service degenerates to the point where they brazenly break the very laws they are required to uphold. We simply cannot expect that the lawlessness in our country will come to an end, if the very people who are required to enforce the law, continue to break the law. It does not matter how minor the incident may seem to be.
What I found even more infuriating than the actions of the policeman shown in the video, was the complete silence from eNCA about this incident. The video has been shown by eNCA numerous times today and yet, other than mentioning the De Doorn workers strike in general, eNCA does not seem to have even noticed the incident of the policeman striking the man in their video footage.
Our local South African news services, such as eNCA, need to begin showing a similar tenacity to that of news channels such as Sky News, Al Jazeera, RT, Fox and CNN. They need to highlight incidents such as these, including unceasingly pursuing those involved to expose them and demand that they explain their actions publically to South Africans.
I am certain that when individuals realise that they will be personally exposed and required to explain their behaviour on national television, it will go a long way towards reducing these incidents. It is easy to act when one is part of a crowd, but certainly not so comfortable when one is singled out for ones actions.
The incident occurs when a group of policemen trap an unarmed man against a building. One of the policemen then indicates to the man that he should run away. As the man obeys, another policemen steps forward and hits the man across the back of the head, before allowing him to run away as instructed by the first policemen.
After the recent violence and brutal killings during the Marikana miners strike, one would think that members of the South African Police Service would have been well briefed about the rights of civilians and the duty of the police to not only uphold the law, but to themselves obey the law. Yet clearly this did not happen.
It does not matter what our personal opinion may be about the striking De Doorn workers and the actions that they have taken during the strike. We South Africans need to unite in showing absolutely no tolerance whatsoever when our South African Police Service degenerates to the point where they brazenly break the very laws they are required to uphold. We simply cannot expect that the lawlessness in our country will come to an end, if the very people who are required to enforce the law, continue to break the law. It does not matter how minor the incident may seem to be.
What I found even more infuriating than the actions of the policeman shown in the video, was the complete silence from eNCA about this incident. The video has been shown by eNCA numerous times today and yet, other than mentioning the De Doorn workers strike in general, eNCA does not seem to have even noticed the incident of the policeman striking the man in their video footage.
Our local South African news services, such as eNCA, need to begin showing a similar tenacity to that of news channels such as Sky News, Al Jazeera, RT, Fox and CNN. They need to highlight incidents such as these, including unceasingly pursuing those involved to expose them and demand that they explain their actions publically to South Africans.
I am certain that when individuals realise that they will be personally exposed and required to explain their behaviour on national television, it will go a long way towards reducing these incidents. It is easy to act when one is part of a crowd, but certainly not so comfortable when one is singled out for ones actions.
