[imagesource: Twitter / @Smurfy_Smurfed]

A policeman was filmed outside Kempton Park police station (Johannesburg East) slapping a woman around for allegedly insulting him.

The video has been doing the rounds, with a worrying amount of men commenting in defence of the policeman’s reaction to being called “marete”, which appears to mean genitals in Sesotho.

Whatever language was used, it certainly does not warrant laying a finger on a woman, doubly so not from an “authority” in a country that is plagued by abuse against women.

The man is a clerk at the police station, confirmed TimesLIVE, and the station department has opened up a case against him:

…police spokesperson Col Dimakatso Sello said it had noted the video “with disappointment” and urged the woman to open a criminal case.

“The incident is condemned in the strongest possible terms. As the SAPS, we are mandated to protect and serve and also fight against any incidents of violence, especially those perpetrated on women and children. The lady in the video is advised to open a criminal case. A departmental case has been opened against the member in question.”

The woman is reportedly a teacher assistant who was sent to the station to get her police clearance.

Here’s the video:

A Teacher Assistant (PYEI) was assaulted at Kempton Park Police Station. #SAPS pic.twitter.com/hYD7yMBw27

— Porsché🏵️ (@Smurfy_Smurfed) March 14, 2022

Leading into the slaps, the person who posted the video said that an argument had started after the policeman refused to help the woman.

She also said that the woman had indeed opened a case against the policeman, adding that “only then they tried to reason with her”.

[source:timeslive]