A video showing a police officer leaning against her vehicle watching looters loot a truck that had broken down on the side of the freeway at the weekend has gone viral on social media.
Yusuf Abramjee shared the video on Twitter with the headline “Free for all!@SAPoliceService” in a bid to grab the attention of the SAPS, but it was instead retweeted 566 times, with hundreds of people both decrying and supporting the looting taking place.
The video, taken by a passing motorist who threatens “I am going to put this on the news…look at the F****** police allowing it, look at it,” shows more than a dozen people looting a truck of its cargo of crates of beer. It is unclear where the incident occurred.
A uniformed SAPS police officer leans casually against a police van watching the looting, with one arm directing passing motorists to keep the traffic flowing. One looter moves an electronic speaker from his boot to the front of his vehicle to make space for a beer crate as the officer watches, just a metre away. A second police officer can be seen standing near the truck waving his arms but not making any moves to arrest the looters.
It appears from the video that the many looters are operating under police protection due to her inaction.
@mannomoney5 was among people who decried the looters for their criminality in his comments on the Twitter post. “This people are a disgrace IYOH South Africans will shame you,” he posted.
@IshmaelBabu2 thought it was all a joke. “Meneer, do you SERIOUSLY think it will make a difference if you put it on the news. RELAX, don’t upset yourself bro, you know in Africa when an animal dies the VULTURES are always there to clean up the environment. CHRISTMAS IN NOVEMBER.”
Agreeing with him was @RratebohoM who tweeted: “Christmas comes once, good work members of the community.”
@KgothatsoMokwe6 posted: “He is acting special, he must relax, it's not his money, this people have Goods (sic) in transit insurance.”
But there were also many people who lambasted the police for their inaction, such as @ElmdAssociation who remarked “so because the truck has insurance - looting is fine! Is that why everybody is stealing from everybody - because we now regard insurance as ‘grants’. With this type of logic it’s no winder (sic) we are the crime Mecca of the world.”
One poster asked Police Minister Bheki Cele to act against the officer at the scene.
“Police watching looting and not acting. SAPS what’s happening? Masemola and Cele act on these police at the scene of the beer truck incident,” @Tumelo41871817 pleaded.
An SAPS spokesperson had not responded to a request for comment at the time of going to print.
Road Freight Association (RFA) CEO Gavin Kelly said the looting was “a disease” in the country, unlike other parts of Africa where communities assisted truck drivers who had broken down.
“In most countries in Africa, when a truck experiences difficulties and is carrying a full load or spills the load, most communities come out to protect the load and even clean up the cargo spill and place it along the side of the road to assist with free flow of traffic,” Kelly said.
“Why is it acceptable in South Africa to stop and grab as much as possible for yourself? In many cases the drivers are assaulted as well. This is a disease. It is not acceptable by any stretch of the imagination.”
Kelly added that it was unacceptable that the police had not intervened.
“Again, scenes of looting are doing the rounds on social media of a truck looted after an incident, and the SAPS are calmly standing alongside and watching. No intervention. No attempt to protect property. Not acceptable. This has to stop. The SAPS needs to perform the most basic of tasks related to the rule of law or we as a country will be done for,” Kelly said.
Click HERE to watch the video on Twitter.
* This report has been updated since it was first posted yesterday. Freight News has confirmed that the transporter whose truck was looted is Sesfigile Logistics. Attempts to talk to the company's CEO, Nelen Gounder, have thus far been unsuccessful.
