Top South African cyclist, Nic Dlamini, is recovering at a hospital in Cape Town after undergoing surgery on his broken arm.
The 24-year-old cyclist suffered a broken arm during an altercation with Table Mountain Park rangers at the Silvermine Nature Reserve. The rangers were demanding to see his permit to be on the park or proof that he had paid, which led to a scuffle and the cyclist being bundled into the back of a SANParks bakkie.
A video of the incident went viral, with members of the public condemning the heavy handedness of the five rangers.
Meanwhile, SANParks says it will be appointing an independent investigator to probe the incident.
SANParks Spokesperson, Rey Thakhuli, has confirmed that the five rangers have been issued with letters of intention to put them on precautionary suspension.
“We have met with the 5 rangers this morning as management and we have issued them with letters of intention to place them on precautionary suspension and we’ve given them 24 hours to reply but as you know, in terms of the law, we have to give them an opportunity to exercise their right to reply,”says Thakhuli.
Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, Barbara Creecy earlier ordered that the rangers be suspended and that her department conduct an independent investigation into the matter.
Wtf @TableMountainNP @SANParks @VanHaywood. Someone just broke Nic Dlamini’s arm pic.twitter.com/oYQGiTNUPM
— Lawrence Lindeque (@larrymontana) December 27, 2019
