Blue light bullies attack a painful reminder for previous victims

People want action to be taken against the VIP Protection Unit, known as the blue light brigade, as more victims tell of incidents of intimidation at the hands of its officials following the incident last weekend when members of the unit were caught on video forcing SA National Defence Force trainees out of their car and assaulting them.

Action Society founder Ian Cameron said the civil rights organisation would follow up on missing charges against the members of the unit in the video, after only one charge was laid by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid).

“Only assault GBH [grievous bodily harm] was opened. This means that attempted murder, intimidation, pointing a firearm and malicious damage to property have all been left out,” he said.

One victim, Ria Smit, said seeing the footage of the latest attack triggered her.

“It happened about a year and a half ago on our way home from Pretoria on the N1. My husband saw the brigade in his rear-view mirror and increased his speed to get out of the way,” she said.

One of the black cars pushed them off the road to get them to pull over.

“We pulled over and they stopped next to us, in traffic, jumped out of the car aggressively and started shouting at my husband,” she said.

Smit’s husband remained calm and explained he had done nothing wrong.

“I remember when they climbed back into the car, they were still shouting at us. They were very aggressive.

“We regard ourselves lucky, when we look at the most recent footage,” she said.

Smit said they were still traumatised by the incident and talked about it every time they saw the blue light brigade.

Coreen Joubert said she was scared of the blue light brigade.

“It’s terrifying when they show up. It rattles your cage because you don’t know what they are capable of. I have been pushed off the road more than once. They appear from nowhere and are aggressive and intimidating. Besides bullying innocent civilians, they also cost taxpayers billions per year. Why do ministers need a whole entourage?” she asked.

Security expert Dr Johan Burger said senior politicians were the most common political killings in the world.

“Politicians, generally, face a real threat, that is a fact.”

Burger said there was a justification for a protective service unit such as the blue light brigade, considering the state visits from international delegates.

“In general, they receive various types of training, such as highspeed driving. “In addition, they also have the necessary training when encountering an obstruction of some sort.

They have to be on the lookout for different situations such as blockages on the roads.

“They also have to be watchful that the obstruction is deliberate, which can create an ambush,” he explained.

Burger said usually the vehicles travelled at high speed, close together with the dignitary in an unidentified vehicle, so any person wanting to attack the convoy would not know which vehicle to target.

However, he added: “It’s difficult for drivers when they hear the sirens and see the blue lights to see what’s happening around them, and what we saw on the footage was a brutal assault. There was no cause for the violence we saw.”

Criminologist Professor Jaco Barkhuizen said there was no need for every minister to have VIP protection, asking: “If they serve the people, why are they so afraid of the people?”

Barkhuizen asked if they were able to drive around the Western Cape without a convoy, then why should it not be the same in all the other provinces.