An urgent internal investigation has found that KwaDukuza Municipal police officers were not manhandling a four-year old child while arresting 11 people for illegally visiting the beach.
This comes after a video showing a screaming child being taken away by one of the officers sparked outrage among residents of Ballito on social media.
Below is a video of the incident:
Here is the full video. pic.twitter.com/ua6noiCkDP
— Yusuf Abramjee (@Abramjee) May 11, 2020
In a statement, the municipality says the child in the video was taken away for safety purposes in terms of the Children’s Act after the father’s arrest at a complex.
The municipality says three other children involved in the incident were handed over to their parents without incident.
According to the statement, the man in the video had ran away to avoid arrest.
Social media outrage
Some social media users took to Twitter and Facebook to condemn the actions of police after the video was shared on both platforms.
They have described police actions as an abuse of power.
It’s times south African stand and fight against this lockdown brutality and abuse
— David (@David16535588) May 11, 2020
Disgusting. Appalling abuse of power! How is this even possible
— Roselyn Ann Morrow (@MorrowRose) May 11, 2020
