Delft attack victim key to probe into alleged officer inaction

The City of Cape Town can this afternoon confirm that it has tracked down the victim of an assault captured on video, which also featured three Law Enforcement officers. The video was brought to our attention by the New Age newspaper, amid allegations that the three officers did not come to the man's defence. The newspaper also indicated that the victim had died and ran a front page headline to this effect on Wednesday 19 November 2014.

The City immediately moved to suspend the three officers until such time as an investigation into the matter is concluded, including where and when the incident took place; the exact circumstances; whether the officers sought medical assistance for the victim; and to confirm that the man had died.

The investigation is still ongoing and information has been difficult to obtain as the South African Police Service has no record of the incident. However, now that we have located the victim, we hope to piece together the rest of the events as soon as possible so that we may determine, once and for all, whether our officers were derelict in their duties and take further action, or exonerate and reinstate them.

I do, however, need to register my concern about the accuracy of the information that was initially presented to the City and the subsequent coverage, stating that the victim had died. This in no way changes our views on the incident and the allegations around the conduct of our staff, but it does pose serious questions about the credibility of the publication that broke the story as well as others that repeated this misinformation in their reportage and we will seek advice from the Press Ombudsman in this regard.

Statement issued by Richard Bosman, Executive Director, Safety & Security, City of Cape Town, November 20 2014

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