Shining a spotlight on police and army brutally during lockdown

Eusebius McKaiser and pundits weigh in on how law enforcement has acted towards citizens during the COVID-19 pandemic.

South Africans are currently going through a lockdown in an effort to mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus.

As part of the regulations of the lockdown, people are only allowed to leave their homes for essentials such as food.

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There have been incidents of alleged police and army brutality since Ramaphosa announced the national lockdown.

Eusebius McKaiser shines the spotlight on the police and army brutality during the lockdown and chats to policing and safety expert Eldred de Klerk and the Mail & Guardian Africa editor Simon Allison.

We decided to go to Hillbrow on day four of the lockdown just to see what the mood was like and while we were driving around, we saw a policeman get into a white unmarked vehicle and we followed that vehicle for a while.

Simon Allison, Africa editor - Mail & Guardian

He says he followed that vehicle for about 30 minutes and the car would stop and a plain clothed policeman would get out of the car and chase people with a sjambok.

In those 30 minutes we saw at least eight or nine people receive a beating from this plain clothed policeman.

Simon Allison, Africa editor - Mail & Guardian

There seems to be trend where police officers want to use excessive force on people during the lockdown, he says.

All over the continent, we are seeing security forces become empowered and their worst instincts are legitimised by the massive threat we are faced with.

Simon Allison, Africa editor - Mail & Guardian

De Klerk says people need to be aware of the operational strategy is for the lockdown and what the operational objectives are.

We have had excellent leadership from the president and his cabinet, we now need to get leadership and accountability from the heads of the police and the defence force.

Eldred de Klerk, Policing and safety expert

Listen below to the full conversation:

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