Bulelani Qolani, who was manhandled by law enforcement officers during the eviction of land occupiers in the Ethembeni informal settlement in July 2020, made his submission to the South African Human Rights Commissioner. Picture: Ayanda Ndamane/African News Agency (ANA)
Cape Town - Bulelani Qolani, who was manhandled by law enforcement officers during the eviction of land occupiers in the Ethembeni informal settlement in July 2020, made his submission to the South African Human Rights Commissioner (SAHRC) during a hearing on Tuesday.
The Commission held day two of a three-day hearing on Tuesday, with residents from Khayelitsha, Delft, and Atlantis making submissions on police brutality during the eviction of unlawful occupiers.
Qolani said the City, SAPS, and private security companies needed to account for the brutal behaviour that they displayed towards shack dwellers.
“We are here today to ask the human rights commission to help us from the unlawful eviction by the City.
“There should be a court order when doing evictions. We were amazed by City’s aggressive approach to evictions because the court made it clear that there should be no evictions, and that was under the Disaster Management Act. After the City law enforcement humiliated me in front of people, it further went to shoot me during the eviction time,” said Qolani.
SAHRC commissioner Chris Nissen said after the process, they would make an assessment and, from there, provide a report to stakeholders.
“We have decided that these three days, we will hear the communities sides.
“In the next two weeks, we will be then engaging the government institutions like SAPS, the City of Cape Town, Ipid, and Psira, which deal with regulations around private security companies. We have dedicated this because you can see that there are a lot of people who want to come and tell their stories. Once we have done this, obviously, we will need to hear the other side,” said Nissen.
Cape Times
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