Eight VIP Unit Officers granted bail of R10, 000 each

Eight VIP Protection Unit Officers have been released on a R10, 000 bail each after appearing at the Randburg Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.

The eight suspects said to have been transporting Deputy President Paul Mashatile, were arrested after a viral video showing them allegedly assaulting civilians on the N1 highway.

The court was also told that the person who filmed the attack received a threatening sms from a private number.

The officers are charged with assault, damage of property and pointing of a firearm.

The case has been moved to 27 September for ongoing investigations.

Speaking to JJ Tabane on Power To Truth, Deputy President Mashatile insists he was not anywhere near the scene when the alleged crime took place. He says the only time he learned about the assault, was seeing a video of the eight accused doing rounds on social media.

“Protectors must respect the law, must obey the law. They are not a law onto themselves. Action must be taken. Immediately after this thing happened, the Commissioner of Police said he is intervening. I then issued a statement saying I’m happy the commissioner is intervening to deal with this problem,” Mashatile said.

“Now that they are in court, I don’t want to make many comments about the scene, except to say it is not true that I was there. In fact, if you look at the way we travel in a convoy, we actually don’t stop at all,” he added.