Police Minister Bheki Cele says the actions of police officers involved in a Johannesburg highway assault last month has cast the South African Police Service (SAPS) in a bad light.
He appeared before Parliament’s Police Committee to shed more light on the incident that took place on the N1 highway near Sandton, where members of the VIP unit of deputy president, Paul Mashatile, were caught on camera assaulting motorists and pointing rifles at them.
The eight men have since appeared in the Randburg Magistrates’ court on charges of pointing a firearm, damage to property, assault, reckless and negligent driving and defeating the ends of justice.
They are out on bail of R10 000 each.
It is the first time Cele has expressed himself on this matter, “The negative impact, narrative by the actions of SAPS members attached to work with the deputy president has indeed put us on a back foot.”
When commenting on why he had been mum on the matter, Cele said that he was in Kinshasa in the DRC at the time of the incident.
VIDEO | VIP protection officers in the assault case granted bail of R10 000 each:
