Justice Project South Africa (JPSA) chairman Howard Dembovsky expressed his grave concern about a case in which a Roodepoort man was hijacked by what seemed to be Metro Police officers in a roadblock on 14th Avenue.
Last Sunday (7 December) Frans Matthysen, 38, was signalled to pull over by apparent Metro Police officers while driving back to his workplace. In the roadblock, a firearm was pointed at him and the officers pushed him into his vehicle. In a remote location in Ruimsig they searched his Nissan Hardbody bakkie and released him, driving off with the vehicle and all its valuable contents.
Matthysen said he had no time during the incident to verify their identities.
Dembovsky said that the Police are not taking responsibility for incidents of police misconduct and criminality.
“I would hate to discourage people from stopping at roadblocks when they’re signalled,” he said, “but this man followed normal procedure in a respectful manner after which he was hijacked.”
“It’s a terrible situation,” he said.
Matthysen indicated to the record that he opened a case with the Roodepoort Police and was told that there would be an identification parade the following week at a police station.
“This to me indicates that the police have suspicions regarding the identities of the ‘officers’ ― it is safe to assume that if there is an identification parade, it was in fact JMPD officials that hijacked the man.
“It is a matter of extreme concern for me and I challenge Wayne Minnaar [JMPD spokesperson] to spin his way out of this one.”
Dembovsky reminds residents of their rights when entering a roadblock.
“In terms of the South African Police Services Act 68 of 1995, Section 13 (8), a roadblock or check must be authorised by the relevant station commander of the nearest police office,” he said.
“People that are signalled to pull over have the right to ask to see such authorisation, which would be in written format and not communicated verbally.”
In terms of the specific incident, Dembovsky said unfortunately it is not difficult for criminals to get their hands on police uniforms and vehicles and vehicle decals.
Read the article about the man that was hijacked by ‘JMPD officers’ here.
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