A PRETORIA businessman was hauled out of his car and beaten up by men he believed were hijackers. But it turned out that the men were police officers.
Sibusiso Mafalala, 28, who lives in Pretoria East and owns a transport business in Cape Town, was allegedly chased by an unmarked police car along the Mabopane freeway on Tuesday evening.
"As I looked at my rear view mirror, I noticed this suspicious-looking and speeding car behind.
"I decided to move from the fast lane to the slow one, but the car followed me.
"After a short distance I moved to the fast lane again, and there it was behind me as we drove through the mountain pass in the direction of Soshanguve," he said.
"And without signalling me to stop, they started firing at my car. It was only after I decided to pull over that they put up a blue light in their car. Then more police officers arrived on the scene and started beating me up.
"Before I could sit down as instructed, they had already started assaulting me. I tried to speak to them but they told me to shut up," he said.
"They then ordered me to lie on my stomach and hand-cuffed me before pepper-spraying me and kicking me all over the body."
And then he heard one of the officers speaking to another over the phone.
"I could overhear them saying the car they were looking for was a VW Golf GTi and not a Polo," he said.
"They then apologised for their mistake and said that they got wrong information from a tracking device company."
Mafalala sustained a black eye and severe bruising to his body, but fortunately no broken bones, his doctor told him.
His lawyer, Maki Nogaga, said they had laid criminal charges against the police at the Soshanguve police station, north of Pretoria.
"We want the identities of the police officers involved. We are also going to lay a complaint with the Independent Complaints Directorate because we do not want the police to investigate the case themselves," Nogaga said.
Soshanguve police spokesman Captain Solly Marindi confirmed that a case was opened.
"But I can only give details tomorrow after having gone through the docket, which is with the investigating officer. Unfortunately, I cannot get hold of him now," he said.
Cops assault wrong man
A PRETORIA businessman was hauled out of his car and beaten up by men he believed were hijackers. But it turned out that the men were police officers.
Sibusiso Mafalala, 28, who lives in Pretoria East and owns a transport business in Cape Town, was allegedly chased by an unmarked police car along the Mabopane freeway on Tuesday evening.
"As I looked at my rear view mirror, I noticed this suspicious-looking and speeding car behind.
"I decided to move from the fast lane to the slow one, but the car followed me.
"After a short distance I moved to the fast lane again, and there it was behind me as we drove through the mountain pass in the direction of Soshanguve," he said.
"And without signalling me to stop, they started firing at my car. It was only after I decided to pull over that they put up a blue light in their car. Then more police officers arrived on the scene and started beating me up.
"Before I could sit down as instructed, they had already started assaulting me. I tried to speak to them but they told me to shut up," he said.
"They then ordered me to lie on my stomach and hand-cuffed me before pepper-spraying me and kicking me all over the body."
And then he heard one of the officers speaking to another over the phone.
"I could overhear them saying the car they were looking for was a VW Golf GTi and not a Polo," he said.
"They then apologised for their mistake and said that they got wrong information from a tracking device company."
Mafalala sustained a black eye and severe bruising to his body, but fortunately no broken bones, his doctor told him.
His lawyer, Maki Nogaga, said they had laid criminal charges against the police at the Soshanguve police station, north of Pretoria.
"We want the identities of the police officers involved. We are also going to lay a complaint with the Independent Complaints Directorate because we do not want the police to investigate the case themselves," Nogaga said.
Soshanguve police spokesman Captain Solly Marindi confirmed that a case was opened.
"But I can only give details tomorrow after having gone through the docket, which is with the investigating officer. Unfortunately, I cannot get hold of him now," he said.
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