[imagesource: Oupa Mokoena/African News Agency (ANA)]

Yesterday, we wrote about an eyewitness account of a woman walking her dog being arrested in Three Anchor Bay, Cape Town.

The woman who witnessed the arrest, and took the photo that shows the dog walker attempting to flee, spoke about three cop cars and “at least seven cops” following the woman and her hound.

She then ran down an alleyway and out of sight, but was next seen sitting in the back of a police van.

Is that too heavy-handed a reaction to somebody who knows, with absolute certainty, that they are breaking the law? Yes, probably, but these are the times we live in.

On Facebook, the comments were mixed, but one or two people said that the cops were looking for easy targets in the ‘burbs, rather than taking on those looting liquor stores, or breaking the laws in townships.

I feel like this lockdown has made many people realise how hard the majority of South Africans have it, living in cramped living conditions without basic services and struggling to make ends meet, but some people will never, ever see outside of their bubble.

Videos of extremely heavy-handed action by SAPS officers, and SANDF soldiers, have been doing the rounds for weeks, and some of the footage out there is terrifying.

It started with the squats and push-ups, as a form of punishment for breaking lockdown laws, and quickly turned more violent.

At present, police and soldiers are alleged to have killed nine people since the lockdown was enforced. NINE – let that sink in while you moan about how it’s so ridiculous that you can’t walk Peanut, your R30 000 French bulldog, around the gated security complex.

Your concerns are legitimate, and your dog needs to be exercised, but we’re talking about a sense of perspective here.

Before we get to the most recent of those nine, Collin Khosa, have a look at some of the footage below, from the 30-second mark.

That man was beaten in his garden, others suffering brutality in the streets, and residents live in fear:

Some of these people were inside their property, and breaking no lockdown laws, just to make that clear.

This is why videos like the one showing people braaing on their lawns in George prove divisive.

These same stories of gross mistreatment are shared daily, and widely, on social media, but maybe they don’t appear on your timeline, so here’s another example:

[LISTEN] A resident in Manenberg talks about the treatment they have been receiving from the army. #SANDF #LockDownSouthAfrica #CoronaVirus pic.twitter.com/CyZfbSyw2f

— Athi Mtongana (@Artii_M) April 15, 2020

I really am just scratching the surface.

Let’s move on to the story of Collin Khosa, who died at his home in Alexandra township on Good Friday, after being allegedly beaten by defence force (SANDF) soldiers.

You may recall that Alexandra has already been in the news, in the days following the lockdown being enacted.

His family has opened a murder case at Alexandra police station, and are also seeking financial compensation for “loss of support, trauma, shock, psychological assistance and any medical expenses that they may have incurred”.

Lawyer Wikus Steyl of Ian Levitt Attorneys is representing the family, reports TimesLIVE, and he outlined what eyewitness reported seeing:

…female SANDF members entered Khosa’s yard with sjamboks and accused him of breaking the lockdown regulations after they saw an unattended camping chair outside the home and a “half-full cup of alcohol”.

Steyl said Khosa told the soldiers that even if he had been drinking, that would not be an offence as it was inside his property.

The members allegedly did not take his response “kindly”, seemed agitated and continued to raid the house and confiscated two beers from a fridge, according to the letter.

At this stage, Khosa was told to wait outside, and one SANDF member leaving his property is alleged to have damaged his car while doing so.

Backup was then called for, and three further SANDF members arrived:

Without seeking further details from Khosa, they allegedly “manhandled and assaulted” him.

“In particular, they: poured beer on top of his head and on his body; one member of the SANDF held his hand behind his back, while the other choked him; slammed him against the cement wall; hit him with the butt of the machine gun; kicked, slapped him, punched him on his face and on his stomach and ribs; and slammed him against the steel gate”.

Steyl said videos of the incident recorded by witnesses were deleted by SANDF members.

“The onlookers were also threatened with violence by the SANDF and have been afraid to assist the family investigation of the matter.”

When Khosa was taken to his house he presented “signs such as vomiting, losing speech and progressively lost his ability to walk and had to be rested in bed”.

Later that day, emergency services declared Khosa dead.

In case you didn’t read that:

So they open the fridge looking for beers…SANDF beat a man to death for drinking beer in his yard 🙆🏾‍♂️🙆🏾‍♂️ may his soul rest well. pic.twitter.com/MB26sN1wRg

— Ⓐⓑⓤⓣⓘ (@Abuti_Katlego) April 13, 2020

SANDF spokesperson Col Louis Kirstein said earlier in the week that the military would co-operate with the investigation, but Khosa, along with eight other people, is already dead.

There are so many factors at play in this power dynamic, but it doesn’t help when the Minister of Police, a certain Bheki Cele, gets a real kick out of threatening violence.

He seems to have a personal vendetta against the existence of alcohol, and over the weekend he was frothing at the mouth when talking about further measures his chargers could enact.

Here’s the Daily Maverick:

On Sunday Cele warned that the police officers will confiscate liquor that is being sold illegally and will “destroy the infrastructure where the liquor is sold”.

The regulations do not authorise the SAPS and SANDF members to destroy infrastructure, regardless of whether the infrastructure was used for the unlawful sale of liquor or not. Members of the SAPS and SANDF who heed Cele’s call to destroy such infrastructure will therefore commit the criminal offence of malicious injury to property, which is defined as “unlawfully and intentionally damaging the property of another”.

The minister’s statement could therefore be read as incitement to commit a crime. Apart from criminal sanction, the destruction of property not authorised by law will also expose the department to civil claims for damages.

He says all of this with a sly grin on his face, too, while he panders to the cameras and plays up the hard man act.

Even if you can’t muster sympathy for those suffering at the hands of law enforcement, whilst breaking the lockdown laws or not breaking the lockdown laws, know that this kind of behaviour from police and SANDF members will eventually affect us all:

Some members of the public might want to turn a blind eye to these kinds of statements because they believe it is acceptable for ministers and law enforcement officers to flout the law as long as this is in pursuit of the important aim of slowing the spread of Covid-19. This attitude may be exacerbated by the fact that some members of the public value the lives of poor people less highly than the lives of middle-class and rich people, and may (rightly) believe that abuses by SANDF and SAPS members will almost exclusively be directed at the poor.

Apart from being callous, this view is also dangerous and shortsighted. It disregards the fact that the long-term consequences of encouraging lawlessness within the SAPS and the SANDF could be calamitous for all South Africans and for the effectiveness of the lockdown. The more often members of the SANDF and SAPS flout the law and harass, assault and murder civilians, the less likely that people will continue to support the lockdown.

Who thought it would be a good idea to force people to do push-ups and squats in this street, humiliating them in the hopes that this would lead to compliance further down the line?

You don’t win people over like this, but you do create a sense of mistrust and contempt that will, and has, led to deadly repercussions further down the line.

Our government’s decisive, early action to enforce a lockdown has proven to be a success thus far, but the struggles that you face to make it through these 35 days without losing your mind, and the struggles that other South Africans face to survive day to day, make the blanket application of lockdown laws a tricky road to navigate.

At the very least, as you sit in your flat / apartment / home (choose the most applicable), just be aware of the life and death struggle, happening daily outside of your bubble.

Remember that just because you didn’t see it on your timeline, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

[sources:timeslive&dailymaverick]