Durban police refused to open a case for a Zimbabwean man

Munyaradzi Baiwa says Montclair and Brighton Beach Police Stations in Durban refused to open an assault case against a metro police officer who assaulted him on 28 June 2014 and confiscated his driver’s licence.

Baiwa, who works for Vicky Transport, says he was assaulted on duty at his work premises in Clairwood. At Montclair police station he was told he could not open a case against police, and that if he attempted to do so, the case would not go far since he did not sustained injuries.

At Brighton Beach police station he was given the same response, but the police officers did find the office where the police officer accused of the assault worked. Yet Baiwa was told by an inspector: “You foreigners do not drive properly.”

His licence was not returned to him even when Baiwa’s manager Nadim Khan, who accompanied him to the office, intervened.

Montclair Police station. Photo by Munyaradzi Baiwa.

Baiwa said that on 28 June two metro police officers had arrived. “One of them asked why I and my workmates were driving trucks in and out of the yard. We explained we were parking trucks neatly for the following day, according to our work schedule … Then the officers asked for our work permits and drivers’ licences, and we obliged.”

Baiwa said one of the officers had slapped and kicked him and told him : “I am South African. I can do whatever I want to foreigners”, and pushed him towards a car with police dogs in it before driving off with Baiwa’s licence.

“What the officer did is unlawful. I need to get my licence back to continue working and take care of my family. Getting a new licence from Zimbabwe is difficult and costly”.

Captain Thulani Zwane of KwaZulu-Natal South African Police Service Corporate Communication wrote in an email to GroundUp: We have consulted with the Station Commanders of the police stations concerned. They are working together with the victim regarding his complaint. It also appears that the victim does not desire to open a criminal case but wants his driver’s license back from the metro officers. He was taken by the Brighton Beach Station Commander to metro offices where the matter is being handled.