Arrest bungle a PR nightmare

[caption id="attachment_225706" align="aligncenter" width="640"] The Twitter screen grab of the arrest of 10 people[/caption]

The police – and their boss, minister Fikile Mbalula – have been left red-faced and caught in a PR nightmare now that the arrest of 10 people, touted as a breakthrough in the investigation of a Cape Town massacre, has turned out to be a monumental blunder.

Last Friday night police in the Western Cape detained eight men – and later another two – near the Huguenot Tunnel. They made them lie in the road, trussed up with cable ties, and sent out a press release and pictures about their “protracted investigation”.

They said multiple units and “intelligence operatives” had “pounced” on a vehicle and arrested suspects who they suggested were linked to weekend shootings in Marikana in Cape Town, in which 11 people were killed. Mbalula arrived at the scene of the arrests to make his own roadside interrogations.

He later posted pictures of the men on Twitter and boasted about the “midnight criminal space shake-up” to his one million Twitter followers. But it has been established – through interviews with six of the “suspects”, all of whom have been released without charge – that they are all members of a family who were transporting a coffin containing a dead relative to his funeral in the Eastern Cape.

They say they were made to lie on the ground for three hours while the police waited for Mbalula to arrive. Now they are vowing to sue the police for wrongful arrest and humiliation. “All this time we were lying down, cuffed. Our family is also upset that the coffin was opened and s e a rc h e d , ” said Zukisa Xakabantu.

The men were detained at Cape Town central police station and freed on Sunday night. Despite this – and despite the earlier police statement announcing arrest charges were being withdrawn on Saturday – Mbalula tweeted a picture of the men to his army of social- media followers on Monday.

The detained men say Mbalula’s tweets have put their lives in danger. “The statements that the minister has been making on social media did not help the situation. He tweeted our pictures and said our testicles must be crushed,” said Zukile Skade.

“The public commented about us at length on Facebook and Twitter,” said Skade. “A lot of hurtful comments were made about me. I operate a taxi service. I also transport school-children. I am being linked to a massacre.

I have received many calls since the day we were released.” Xakabantu was close to tears as he told of his humiliation. He said police had been adamant he was one of the twins terrorising Marikana. “I have no issues with the police stopping people and searching, or even detaining them, but the way they treated me was totally inhumane and humiliating. The men claim they were beaten by police and labelled “killers”.

They showed bruises on their legs and necks which they claimed had been inflicted by the police. Mbalula’s spokesman Vuyo Mhaga said the minister had tweeted the picture in reaction to a Zapiro cartoon making fun of him. Mhaga acknowledged that the tweet had been published after the statement was withdrawn by provincial police – but said Mbalula could not comment on Thursday because he was locked in meetings.

Western Cape police spokesman Brigadier Novela Potelwa confirmed that a number of people had been taken in for questioning on Friday evening and since been released.