Four members of #OperationFiyela were picked up on March 30 by the police with the help of members of the Mozambican community trading at Pan Africa Square.
The three men and a woman were picked up during a citizen’s arrest and handed over to the police who were waiting nearby with a van near the precinct next to a supermarket. The suspects are expected to appear in court on April 1.
One of a few members of Fiyela who reportedly escaped the citizen’s arrests, Nosipho Semane said the arrests happened in the afternoon, soon after the arrival of a police van. Mozambican hawkers allegedly apprehended local hawkers of Fiyela and handed them over to a waiting police van.
“I escaped the arrest by the skin of my teeth. Two guys manhandled me and tried to push me into the van but I fought back and got loose and tried to seek protection from the officer who was guarding the van but he pushed me back towards the attackers and I ran off,” Semane claimed.
Semane said she could not take down the name of the officer on the badge due to the commotion and the van finally drove away with the four members.
“Soon after the incident, our members quickly gathered at the [police] station to demand the release of their comrades and the police tried to calm everybody down, saying we should go back home as they will process the four,” said Fiyela leader Agnes Malatjie, who was camped outside the police station.
Other members of the organisation were camped out at court in the hope that the four arrested would be brought there. “Up until today, our comrades have not been charged or released and we will continue to picket outside the station until they are released or charged and taken to court,” Malatjie claimed.
Alexandra Police Station commander Brigadier Lindiwe Magudulela defended the citizen’s arrest issue, saying police had a right to seek assistance even from a passerby to help them apprehend a suspect who might be resisting arrest.
“There is nothing untoward about the police behaviour, for as long as the person is resisting arrest. They are entitled to call on anyone for help, including you as a journalist,” she told Alex News.
