Horror at S. African Police Brutality Tape

Nov. 9, 2000 -- The video horrified a nation.

For about an hour, handcuffed black prisoners in South Africa screamed and begged for mercy as four German Shepherds repeatedly mauled them in a field while police officers laughed, cheered and sometimes offered candid comments to the camera.

The victims, believed to be illegal immigrants, were beaten and kicked as they tried to fend off the dogs who fiercely savaged them at the urging of their handlers. Eventually, the dogs were pulled off.

But it was only a temporary break before the dogs were allowed to attack the prisoners again and again.

The incident, which was recorded as part of a dog-training exercise in South Africa in 1998 has highlighted the racism that remains entrenched in the South African police force six years after the end of apartheid.

Hours after South African viewers watched the video clip unveiled in a story on state television, the network reported it received more than 15,000 calls in 12 hours from viewers upset by the images.

Suspects Denied Bail

At a Pretoria court today, six white policemen believed to be responsible for the incident, were denied bail at a hearing where they faced attempted murder charges.

The court ordered the six men be held separately in police custody until Nov. 17 when bail will be considered.

Prosecutor Christo Roberts today said the policemen were provisionally charged with attempted murder, but added that inquiries were underway and detailed charges would be formulated later.

There were reports that investigators had leads on some of the victims. Before the hearings, police director Sharon Schutte said a source had reported to police that one or more of the victims was in South Africa and might be willing to testify.

But she stressed the police had not followed up on the leads. “I want to stress this is not confirmed. We have not spoken to anyone yet,” she said.

Horrified Viewers

South African viewers and the press have reacted with horror to the video.

The Johannesburg Star today devoted its second page to letters of outrage and said in a rare front page editorial: “...it was racism of the most extreme kind.... Our police must be taught a lesson. It should be a harsh one.”

So aghast were viewers with the video clips, that a national telephone exchange operator reported the directory inquiries service was swamped immediately after it was aired by calls from mainly white people, some of them crying, asking for counseling services or trying to call the broadcaster.

“Live Bait” screamed the headline in The Citizen newspaper on Wednesday while the headline of Wednesday’s Sowetan newspaper, the country’s largest black daily read “Racist Brutality.”

Parliamentary opposition leader Tony Leon said the footage “was horrifying and left a sense of shock among all reasonable South Africans. The scenes, although current, belong to the heyday of apartheid and have no place in the present South Africa.”

High Security

The six accused policemen arrived at the Pretoria court today in two armored trucks, escorted by police armed with automatic weapons who cleared a path through a group of black protesters.

The courtroom was cleared and searched before armed police admitted spectators and reporters one by one, searching each.

Advocate Kobus Lowies said one of the accused, Jacobus Petrus Smith, who appeared to be pale and shaky, was suffering “one or another dreadful virus” following meningitis and needed hospital care.

The other five wore crisp white shirts and ties.

Smith charged in a statement read to the court that National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi and Safety and Security Minister Steve Tshwete had publicly ordered police to cut corners in the investigation.

“I am afraid that I and the other five charged with me willnot get a fair trial because of the state intervention.... The powerful machinery of the state is being used against us,” he said in the statement read out in the Afrikaans language.

Smith said Cabinet ministers and police chiefs did not givesimilar priority to murderers and rapists, adding: “We did not kill, rape or rob anyone.”

Investigations Underway

Schutte said the government had appointed a special prosecutor to work with the elite Scorpions police unit and the Independent Complaints Directorate that investigates charges against police to investigate the case.

Karen Mckenzie, head of the Independent Complaints Directorate told reporters dog units throughout South Africa would be investigated.

“It is imperative for us to look at dog units across the country,” she said, adding that at least one of the four dogs on the tape was still in service. The dog would be re-evaluated to see if, among other things, it had been trained only to attack black people.

Racism Entrenched

On Wednesday, The Johannesburg Star quoted one black caller as saying: “We can’t trust white policemen. We just can’t trust them.”

Analysts say the police force still harbors pockets of the racism that was familiar to the world during the apartheid years.

Gareth Newham, a researcher with the Center for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, said: “There has not been enough done in the police since apartheid to change the values and attitudes which support brutality in the police.”

He added that the country’s high rate of violent crime contributed to a culture of violence in the police force.

More than 200 police officers are murdered each year.

According to the ICD, 681 people died in police custody or as a result of police action in South Africa between April 1999 and March 2000.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.