NIGERIA has strongly protested the treatment meted out to a Nigerian by the South African police. The “merciless beating” of one its nationals by the South African police was too much and demanded that the perpetrators be punished.
Amateur video footage of two armed uniformed policemen and private guards showed the punching and kicking of a man on a Cape Town street and went viral last week. The victim has been identified as Clement Emekeneh.
“The video of the attack which has appeared on the social media is particularly disturbing,” Nigeria’s foreign ministry said in a statement, which described the incident as a “merciless beating.”
The Nigerian Embassy in Pretoria has “sent a strongly-worded note to the Department of Foreign Affairs of South Africa protesting the attack and demanding that the perpetrators be brought to justice.”
In the video, a security guard ripped off the man’s trousers and his shirt may have been ripped off too before the image was captured; and then a police officer repeatedly punching and kicking the man in the groin.
Another officer holds the victim by the neck. His underpants come off as the beating continues before he is loaded into a police car.
Two officers, aged 42 and 45 years old, were arrested, charged with assault and granted bail on Monday.
South African police officers are frequently embroiled in allegations of brutality, yet prosecutions rarely occur.
Last year, Mozambican national Mido Macia, died after being dragged behind a moving police patrol van in a town east of Johannesburg. Nine officers are standing trial for his killing.
Xenophobic attacks across South Africa in May 2008 left 62 people dead and caused thousands to flee their homes.
