AfriForum assists family to file charges against TMPD “gangsters”
AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit assisted Yolandi and Neels Groenewald yesterday to file criminal charges of extortion and corruption against members of the Tshwane Metro Police Department (TMPD). These charges were laid at the Lyttleton police station in Centurion after approximately seven TMPD officers allegedly extorted R12 000 from the Groenewald couple and their minor son (14) on the evening of Monday, 22 August.
The Groenewald’s were on their way back after a late-night school function in Pretoria when they were pulled over on the R21 off-ramp by the group of officers. According to Natasha Venter, advisor at AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit, the officers threatened that they would lock up Neels (the driver of the vehicle) and would only release him on Wednesday. “The officers also conveyed this message to his wife and child, who were waiting in the car in the pitch-dark night. It was extremely traumatic for this family to learn that the ‘gang of officers’, none of whom wore visible name tags, would lock Neels up and were threatening to hold him for two days. The female officer also apparently said that she would drop Neels’ family off at their home as a ‘favour’ after they arrested him.”
However, this is not where the traumatic events stopped. The gang of officials then allegedly said that if Neels paid a ‘spot fine’ of R12 000, they would let him go. The female officer allegedly demanded that Neels immediately transfer R3 000 electronically to a certain number to ensure that the investigation against him ‘disappears’. Neels then had to drive to two different ATMs to withdraw the remaining R9 000 and hand it over to the officers. Only then did the gang give him back his license, and he and his family could go home.
“People are too afraid to drive at night because the people who are supposed to ensure our safety on the roads behave like gangsters and pose the greatest threat to motorists these days. I suspect there are very few people at present who would say they feel comfortable seeing metro police officers on the side of the road, and it often instils real fear in motorists when they are pulled over – even if they have done nothing wrong. The only way we are going to stop this behaviour is by people like the Groenewalds standing up against these blatant extortion tactics,” says Venter.
“We laid these charges because we felt it could no longer go on like this. The metro police subjected us to a night of terror. It was traumatic for all of us, especially my son. This is not how police officers should behave and this is not how officials should treat South African citizens,” says Yolandi.
