A SANDF soldier is seen confronting a woman and smacking her during an incident in Tafelsig, Mitchells Plain.
Image: Screenshot
A SANDF soldier has been filmed slapping a woman twice during a confrontation in Tafelsig, Mitchells Plain, raising fresh questions about the conduct of soldiers deployed alongside police in Cape Town communities under Operation Prosper.
The footage, which has surfaced on social media, shows the woman moving between the soldier and a younger woman, appearing to shield her as the confrontation unfolds. SAPS members and other soldiers are at the scene.
The soldier strikes the woman and can be heard telling her to “f#@k off”. The person filming the incident can then be heard asking, “Hoekom klap jy haar?” (Why are you slapping her?).
In the footage, her husband is seen approaching the soldier and questioning him about what is happening. The soldier appears to shove him away.
As the woman continues questioning the soldier about why he struck her, he slaps her again. The confrontation continues and the soldier is seen raising his firearm before her husband pulls her away.
A second video shows the woman’s husband speaking to police after the incident.
Cape Argus has twice approached SAPS for comment, including whether a criminal case was opened and what action was taken by police officers who were at the scene. SAPS had not responded by the time of publication.
The SANDF was also approached for comment and asked Cape Argus to provide the footage for reference. The videos were supplied, but the SANDF had not responded to the questions by the time of publication.
DA MP Nicholas Gotsell, who serves on Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Defence and Select Committee on Security and Justice, described the footage as “deeply disturbing”.
“There can be no justification for a soldier unlawfully assaulting a civilian. The presence of SAPS members also raises serious questions about what they witnessed, whether they intervened and what action followed,” Gotsell said.
He said the woman should formally report the incident to the Military Ombud and law-enforcement authorities so it could be investigated.
Gotsell also raised concerns about Operation Prosper, under which soldiers are deployed in support of police.
He said Parliament was told during a joint SAPS-SANDF briefing on March 27 that there would be two police officers for every soldier during the deployment.
Gotsell said the latest footage appeared to show a different picture.
“Yet in these videos there are clearly far more soldiers than police; only two SAPS members are visible,” he said.
He said concerns about the deployment had also been raised during parliamentary oversight at Ysterplaat and Mitchells Plain.
“This reinforces precisely why we warned that soldiers, trained primarily for combat rather than everyday civilian policing, must support and never substitute a properly resourced SAPS,” Gotsell said.
The Tafelsig footage comes two months after Cape Argus reported on another incident involving an SANDF member during a joint operation with police in Elsies River.
In that incident, a soldier was filmed hitting and kicking a woman. The SANDF later confirmed that an investigation had been convened to establish the circumstances and whether administrative or disciplinary action was warranted.
Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia, speaking about Operation Prosper more broadly and not the Tafelsig incident, recently cautioned that joint deployments could only go so far.
“Sustained deployments hold ground; they do not by themselves transform a precinct. Where we withdraw without building permanent local capacity, the problem returns,” Cachalia said.
He said the operations would continue, including against organised crime, extortion, kidnapping, illegal mining and gangsterism.
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