Vusi Ndlovu

Vusi Ndlovu

The police are in trouble again.

They told a man he could not lay a charge against them because they had already charged him.

Then they locked him up.

Police spokesman Captain Eddie Hall confirmed that Thomas Temba appeared in court yesterday.

He said he would personally intervene and help Temba open a case against the policeman he has claimed assaulted him.

A spokesman for the Independent Complaints Directorate, Dikeledi Phiri, said Temba was free to open a case against the policeman.

He said that if Temba were still in prison a representative of the directorate would be sent to take a statement from him.

Temba's family believe he was wrongfully arrested.

They travelled from Northern Cape to Mpumalanga yesterday to look for him.

His brother, Mzwandile Temba, told Sowetanthat Temba, who works for a trucking company, had a squabble with a police officer in Witbank on Monday afternoon.

"My brother told me the policeman's car squeezed in front of his and they had an accident. The policeman demanded that Thomas remove the truck from the accident scene. My brother refused because the police had not arrived at the scene."

Temba reported the crash at the Klipfontein police station, but when "he returned to the truck he noticed that the officer he had clashed with was stoning it".

The policeman allegedly approached Temba aggressively and fired a warning shot.

The cop claimed Temba had pointed a firearm at him and he was locked up.

The Klipfontein police would not let Temba lay charges of assault and malicious damage to property.