The conduct of a provincial director of the SAPS in Limpopo was brought to the attention of National Commissioner, Jackie Selebe, last week, after the provincial commissioner in Limpopo failed to respond to the serious concerns of members of the public.

The provincial commissioner of the SAPS was informed last week of what is described as totally unacceptable conduct by a senior police official during an incident in Makhado (Louis Trichardt).

Members of the public watched in utter astonishment while a director of the SAPS interfered when a police official, at the request of members of the public, tried to arrest and remove a rowdy and aggressive person who was causing a disturbance at a busy local supermarket. The rowdy person claimed to be a policeman. He was not in uniform and seemed to be highly intoxicated.

“He was so unsteady that he had difficulty getting the sausage which he was trying to eat, into his mouth,” remarked one bystander.

A police inspector at the scene was requested by bystanders to act, when the person started swearing, shouting and threatening people at the supermarket, who politely requested him to turn down the volume of the music blaring from his vehicle.

A senior police official, identified as a Director Manduana, attached to the detective branch in the provincial commissioner’s office, intervened and instructed the police inspector to leave the seemingly highly intoxicated person alone. To the astonishment and dismay of bystanders, what seemed to be an obviously drunk and disorderly driver was allowed to drive away in a vehicle and to join the busy traffic on the nearby N1, with police officials looking on.

Informed legal sources who were contacted about the incident said the given set of facts could be construed as an act of defeating the ends of justice and probably also as aiding and abetting a criminal offender. This incident occurred during a weekend in which residents experienced a car accident on the N1/Rissik Street crossing in which alcohol abuse seemed to be an obvious factor.

Following the incident, the facts related to the incident at the supermarket and the conduct of Director Manduana were relayed twice by fax to the office of Provincial Commissioner Sengani. The transmission was confirmed. Commissioner Sengani was requested to comment. He did not.

The incident, together with Commissioner Sengani’s failure to respond, was consequently brought to the attention of the national commissioner. On Thursday last week, the Zoutpansberger received a written response from the police’s provincial head of communication, Senior Superintendent M F Mojapelo, stating:

“An internal investigation was conducted into the alleged conduct of one of our senior officers during an incident on July 28 in Makhado. Our investigation revealed the direct opposite of the allegations as contained in your enquiry. The officer mentioned in your enquiry was indeed in the vicinity where the incident took place. The only intervention he made was to call the two police officials, who were also in that vicinity, to quell the situation by calling the man in the centre of the quarrel to order. The two policemen, who were on duty, did exactly that and the man left.

“According to them, there was no indication that the man was drunk. It was a quarrel between a group of people and one person. To date, no charges were laid by any individual or group of people regarding the alleged incident and as a matter of policy, any action will only be contemplated as soon as there is a formal complaint.”