SAPS management will investigate the arrest of a Social Justice Coalition activist on an allegedly trumped up kidnapping charge.
|||Cape Town - National police Commissioner Riah Phiyega has told the Social Justice Coalition that provincial SAPS management will investigate allegations that a coalition activist has been arrested on a kidnapping charge that has been trumped up.
This followed a protest by coalition members outside the Methodist Church of Southern Africa in Langa, where Phiyega spoke on Sunday on “Women in Leadership” as part of the SAPS’s contribution to Women’s Month.
Phiyega was stopped as she was leaving the church, by coalition members who demanded the release of Angy Peter, who was arrested on Wednesday on an allegation of kidnapping a suspected thief. At the time she was out on R2 000 bail on a murder charge.
Police spokesman Andre Traut said the kidnapping case would come before the Khayelitsha Magistrate’s Court today.
Coalition deputy general-secretary Dustin Kramer said they had approached Phiyega after the church service.
“She gave us her personal assurance that provincial Commissioner Arno Lamoer would meet us urgently to resolve the matter,” Kramer said.
He said they had staged the protest outside the church because they aimed to draw attention to the matter and wanted Lamoer to intervene as he “ultimately has control over the police in the whole region”.
Peter’s partner, Isaac Mbadu, who was part of the group, said the activist had been taken from their S Section home by police on Wednesday. He was not home at the time.
Mbadu said when he went to the Khayelitsha police station, he was told Peter and three men had kidnapped a man who had stolen Peter’s cellphone on Monday. Mbadu said police alleged the four had locked the man in a car boot and driven to a filling station, where the man escaped when they opened the boot.
The man lodged a complaint with police.
But Mbadu says that at the time of the alleged kidnapping, Peter had been with him and an estate agent as they were applying for a bond to buy a house. Peter had also gone shopping.
Mbadu believes the allegations are a “tactic” by police to intimidate Peter, who has been at the forefront of the coalition’s demands for police in Khayelitsha to be investigated.
Peter had been collecting statements for the coalition from residents about their experiences with police.
Mbadu said the couple had to move from Mfuleni to Khayelitsha after being “harassed” by the police.
They had been subjected to drug raids at their home in the middle of the night, he said.
Peter had been detained twice on allegations of kidnapping people, but neither case had been registered and the couple didn’t know who the complainants were.
“We thought when we moved from Mfuleni things would be better, but we are experiencing the same problem of being harassed by the police,” Mbadu said.
Peter and
Mbadu are to appear withChristopher Dina and Azola Dayimane in the Western Cape High Court on Friday on a charge of murdering Siphiwo Rowan Mbevu.
Police say Mbevu, an alleged criminal, was “necklaced”.
xolani.koyana@inl.co.za
Cape Times