The SA Human Right Commission will assess a complaint from civil rights initiative AfriForum that a Delmas policeman threatened a man with a firearm.SAHRC spokesman Vincent Moaga said on Monday: "We have received the complaint, we will assess it to determine whether the commission is the relevant body to deal with it."
AfriForum has lodged the complaint with the Commission and with police watchdog body, the Independent Complaints Directorate.
AfriForum's head of community safety Nantes Kelder said Joe Wilkinson was threatened with a firearm by a policeman at a scene of a road accident.
Kelder said Wilkinson turned to AfriForum for help because he did not receive support from the police.
The policeman, who allegedly was under the influence of alcohol at the time and was not identified as member of the police, blocked the only lane open to traffic after the accident with his vehicle.
When Wilkinson asked him to remove his vehicle, because it was obstructing the traffic, the policeman allegedly shouted at Wilkinson and after pulling his vehicle off the road, charged at him with a 9mm pistol in his hand.
He allegedly told Wilkinson : "My iron also shoots whites".
Wilkinson then rushed to the Delmas police station to report the incident, where the policeman continued with his threats against him.
"At one stage, Wilkinson even had to hide between vehicles on the premises of the police station," said Kelder.
Source : Sapa /mm/ks
Date : 09 Mar 2009 16:39
