Cape Town Journalist Assaulted by Police, Has Phone Confiscated – Twice

Freelance journalist and regular contributor to GroundUp, Sandiso Phaliso, was assaulted by members of the South African Police Service.

• In the space of five days, journalist Sandiso Phaliso has been assaulted and twice had his phone confiscated by police in the Nyanga area while reporting at crime scenes.
• He was also illegally detained in April last year while doing his job.
• The assault and harassment occurred despite him carrying media credentials.
• Following the most recent incident on Wednesday last week, police still have not returned his phone.

Within five days, a Cape Town journalist has been beaten up by police and twice had his phone confiscated while trying to report at crime scenes in the Nyanga area.

Veteran freelance reporter Sandiso Phaliso, who also writes regularly for GroundUp, said he showed police his press credentials on both occasions, to no avail.

Both incidents occurred close to his home in Browns Farm. He was also accosted and illegally detained by Nyanga police in a holding cell in April last year while taking photos at a crime scene near his home.

A letter of complaint by GroundUp to the national and provincial police commissioners in April last year received no response.

Assaulted by police

Phaliso said the first of the latest two incidents happened on Friday 5 September when he was taking photos following a shooting in Sangxa Street in Browns Farm about 450 metres from his home.

He said at the scene he first spoke to one of about eight police officers. He told her he was a reporter and asked who was in charge. He said he was told there was no one senior she could direct him to. Staying behind the police cordon, he then found the best position to record the scene where a man was lying wounded on the pavement.

Provincial police spokesperson Andrè Traut confirmed a 28-year-old man was shot and wounded in Sangxa Street at about 1:40pm on 5 September, and police are investigating.

Phaliso said as the victim was being driven away to hospital in a private car, a male police officer asked him what he was doing.

“I told him I’m a reporter working for GroundUp. He demanded I delete the photos on my phone. I said I can’t delete the photos, and switched the phone off.”

Phaliso said the officer then pulled him into the cordoned area, grabbed his phone, and called his colleagues. Phaliso said he repeated he was a reporter, showed them his press card, and insisted he would not delete the photos. When the police wouldn’t accept his press card, saying it did not have a photograph of him on it, he produced his ID to corroborate the name on the card.

Despite this, he said they threatened to break his phone if he didn’t delete the photos, and an officer started hitting him in the face and around his ears with the flat of his hand.

“I kept protesting. He kept hitting.” Phaliso said he was “klapped” about 12 times.

He said at this point a man looking over the wall of his yard shouted at the police that he recognised Phaliso and they should either arrest him if he’d done something wrong, or leave him alone.

“They stopped then and told me to leave the scene,” said Phaliso. “I asked for my phone back and they said I must get it from Nyanga police station.”

He said while he was at the Nyanga police station the officer who had assaulted him, and the one who took his phone, arrived.

“They said if I wanted my phone back I must bring a licence proving I’m a reporter.”

He said when he asked to speak to the station commander he was told the commander was not there and he should come back on Monday.

He returned home. He had a headache and his hearing was impaired. It took until Sunday for his hearing to return to normal.

At Nyanga police station on Monday morning he produced his ID and his phone was returned.

He returned on Tuesday morning and managed to speak to the station commander, Colonel Wynand Muller, who apologised and said the police officers were told how to deal with journalists and how to behave at a crime scene.

Bongani Mfobo, who lives two houses away from where Phaliso was assaulted on Friday 5 September, confirmed Phaliso’s version of events.

Mfobo said he was sitting in his car and saw Phaliso being assaulted by a police officer.

“There were more than five officers. I saw them take his phone,” said Mfobo.

Using some of the footage of the crime scene of 5 September, Phaliso created a video on TikTok. However, his phone was again confiscated by police before he could transfer the photos to his laptop.

Phone confiscated, again

Phaliso said at about 3pm on Wednesday 10 September he saw a crowd gathered on Debeza Street, a block from his home. He said three police officers were assaulting three young men, and dismantling and damaging the youths’ bicycles.

Phaliso said he stood with the gathered crowd and took photos.

“They [the police] approached me. Then one of them grabbed my phone and asked why I’m taking pics.”

Despite showing his press card – which he says he always carries with him – and the officers recognising him as “that journalist”, he was told his phone would be broken if he didn’t delete the photos.

When he refused, one officer tried to twist his phone in order to break it. “I heard a crack,” said Phaliso. They then kept the phone and left.

Phaliso said he first went to Browns Farm police station, where the desk officer called around to see who had been patrolling, but no one knew anything about the incident on Debeza Street.

Back at Nyanga police station, Phaliso said a captain called all the police patrols in the area in a bid to identify who had his phone, but all denied having confiscated it.

He said he was then advised to return at 6am the next morning to see if he could identify the officers at the morning parade.

He did so, but said the three in question were not there. He said he was told he could open a case, and update the file if he managed to identify any of the officers.

At the time of publishing, he has not had his phone returned and has received no communication from the police.

Police response

Provincial police spokesperson Andrè Traut said Phaliso was encouraged to lodge an official complaint with SAPS so it could be investigated.

Traut said National Instruction 5 of 2017 stated members of the media must be treated with “courtesy, dignity and respect (even when provoked)”.

The instructions stated a journalist may not be prevented from taking photographs or videos, but if they were disturbing evidence, hindering an investigation or obstructing police within a cordoned-off area, “they must be courteously requested to leave”.

“Should they refuse, they must be escorted out of the restricted area.”

Additionally, the instructions state: “A media representative may under no circumstances be verbally or physically abused, and cameras or other equipment may not be seized, unless lawfully required as exhibits. No member may wilfully damage the equipment of a media representative or any other person.”

Nyanga station commander Colonel Wynand Muller confirmed Phaliso had spoken to him about the incident on 5 September, but was not familiar with the incident of 10 September.

He said there were a number of police units operating in the Philippi and Nyanga area so they may have not been from Nyanga police station, which is why Phaliso was not able to identify the officers who assaulted him when he attended the morning parade.

He advised that Phaliso should open a case at the station.

Traut said any allegation made against police officers “will be investigated without fear or favour”.

“It is outrageous that Sandiso has been assaulted and unlawfully deprived of his phone twice in less than a week by Cape Town police,” said Africa Director of the Committee to Protect Journalists and GroundUp board member Angela Quintal.

“Standing Order 156 and National Instruction 5 of 2017 makes it clear: SAPS members may not assault journalists, confiscate their equipment, or obstruct their work.”

Quintal said the Committee to Protect Journalists urges Provincial Commissioner Lieutenant General Thembisile Patekile to ensure his officers comply with these directives, end the abuse of journalists who are simply doing their jobs, and return Sandiso’s phone immediately.

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