The DA Shadow Minister of Police has posed the question of why the same force used on protesters in 2020 can not be used now to control KZN violence.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) Shadow Minister of Police, Andrew Whitfield, on Wednesday, 14 July 2021, published the response from the National Police Commissioner, to the questions posed by the party on the South African Police Service’s (SAPS) heavy-handed tactics against tourism sector protestors in 2020. The DA asked why the same approach has not been enforced in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), in light of the violent looting and protests.
In the commissioner’s response, he stated that the SAPS was not made aware of the peaceful protest and found out via social media and through crime intelligence. In one of its questions, the DA asked whether the deployment of water cannons and flash bangs was standard operating procedure for such a protest. It also posed the question of what factors needed to occur for such crowd control measures. The SAPS responded that after failed attempts at dispersing the crowd with audible warnings, minimal force was then deployed using a water cannon.
See the post below.
Here is the National Police Commissioner’s response to my questions about @SAPoliceService heavy handed tactics against tourism sector protestors last year. Please explain why the same force is not used in KZN? pic.twitter.com/suF6qSQAl2
— Andrew Whitfield, MP (@andrewhitfield) July 14, 2021
