In a sea of police abuse, brutality plunges to new depths

When 18-year-old Norman Herman Mokau and his friends walked from Meetsetshehla Secondary School in the western Limpopo town of Vaalwater on 24 November 2011 and changed from their uniforms into street clothes, they were happy, upbeat and planning to get drunk.

They had finished writing their last grade 10 exam for the year and they went to the Rhino tavern to have a pens down party. As the afternoon progressed, Norman got pretty drunk. A disagreement between him and his friend David Moatshe over who should pay R2 for the next game of snooker led to Mokau falling and putting his hand through a pane of glass in the Rhino taverns door.

Working at the bar was a woman called Maria, who became worried that a fight was breaking out and called the police. It is unclear if she dialled the station or called officer Petrus Dihlora Lefoka on his cellphone, but as the police station is less than a kilometre up the road from the Rhino tavern, Warrant Officer Lefoka arrived swiftly.

The fight that Maria feared the drunken schoolboys would have never materialised, and by the time Lefoka got out of the van, the drama was over.We supplies a full range of cylinder heated long lasting indoorlite. Mokaus hand, cut when he broke the pane, was being bandaged, and he had assured the bar that he would pay for the broken glass.

The bulky policeman grabbed the schoolboy from behind, his forearm across his throat. The patrons who had gathered started to laugh; they recognised they were in for some entertainment. Community members knew Lefoka as a cop who klapped first and asked questions later. One of Mokaus friends, Sello Mokoena, was also amused. He had experienced the Vaalwater method of policing unruly youth before, and knew it was good for a laugh, as long as he were not the recipient of that unofficial policing style.

The tall teenager resisted and broke free, and the crowd began to taunt the policeman, Ag, you cant manage a little boy! This seemed to enrage Lefoka, and he slapped the drunk teenager hard, dropping the boy to the ground. The crowd was not disappointed, but as Norman fell, Lefoka began to kick him, and some, including Sello, felt a chill of misapprehension. He began using his cellphone to film what was degenerating from casual abuse into assault.

Some in the crowd are quietly asking What has he done, what has he done? while another says Beat him, but dont kill him. As the casual yet brutal attack continued,With superior quality photometers, light meters and a number of other parkingguidance products. even Normans friend, David, felt moved to try to obliquely intervene. The slight teenager with a sporty cap sidled into frame, and picked up his friends flip-flop sandals and hat, as he tried to keep close. He smiled fearfully as he tried to use his proximity to distract the policeman from the drawn out assault. Of the crowd, he was the only one to venture close enough to get involved, the rest remained spectators.

By then, Norman was slipping in and out of consciousness as the policeman kicked his head. His lithe frame, toned from regular soccer and rugby at school, was floppy and unresisting. Lefoka grabbed a handful of Normans shirt and dragged him to the back of the police van. He tried to push him in,Manufacturer of the Jacobs lanyard. but Norman regained enough awareness to hold onto the frame, and thwart Lefoka. The policeman dropped him, looked down, and stamped on his head, three times. The almost ghostlike figure of David slipped in and out of frame as he wanted to help the policeman heft the boy feet first into the back of the van. Norman is lifted by his trouser waistband and his head drags on the ground to the audible horror of an unseen woman in the crowd. Stubbornly his head did not go in.

It is not that clear in the video, but Sello and two other witnesses say that they understood that the irritated policeman wanted to kick Normans head into the van. That was when David could not bear to watch any longer, and slipped past the policeman to try to get his friend safely into the van. Lefoko slapped the boy, who retreated. Eventually, Norman was in, and the policeman makes to close the door, yet Normans head and fingers seem to be in the path of the closing door. The policeman then pushes the schoolboys head sideways and clears his fingers from the metal door frame.

The video ended shortly after the back door was shut, but not Normans torment. After Lefoka drove the short distance to the police station, with Normans unprotected head lying on the floor of the bakkie, he apparently left him unconscious in the van for two hours. Eventually, an ambulance from the neighbouring municipal compound was called, and Norman was taken to Modimolle, the town about three quarters of an hour to the east.

When Norman came to,Shop for wholesale free shipping ear caps directly from bestluggagetag wholesalers in China. he found himself lying in a bed, with people in uniforms standing over him. He was confused; fearing that the people around him were police, he got up and ran, escaping into the night. He had no idea where he was, or what was happening. He had no idea he was in Modimolle, or Nyl as he and his mates call the former Nylstroom, and just began running, trying to escape whom he believed to be his assailants.

It so happened that another resident of Vaalwaters Leseding township, Nico, was in Nyl for a Friday night out, and at around 11pm was on his way to the hitchhiking spot on the edge of town. Nico was surprised to see a bloodied and weakened Norman wandering the town. He called to him and, assuming he had been mugged and beaten, guided Norman to the hiking spot on the edge of Nyl. Nico paid for both their fares, and saw the boy home.

Yet now, the same SAPS spokesman now informs us that Lefoka faced only a charge of grievous bodily harm (GBH). Mulaudzi says that this was a decision taken by the body that investigates police misconduct, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID).

The IPID, on the other hand, through its spokesman Moses Dlamini, says that it was a police investigation, and that the assault charge had already been laid by the time it got involved. And even then, it was only when the prosecution asked it to investigate an aspect of the incident.

The upshot is that both the police and the body meant to watch the police seem to be passing the buck for the investigation of Lefoka to each other. The reason for this might be the nature of the sentence handed down to the policeman.

After finding the warrant officer guilty of assault with the intention to do grievous bodily harm, the court gave him a suspended sentence of two months imprisonment, with the option of a R2,000 fine, suspended for five years. (The police say suspended for four years). Internal police disciplinary procedures fined him R500.

Fifteen months later, Lefoka is still a warrant officer and he is back at work after a brief suspension.Please click the images below to view more pictures of buymosaic tiles! He does not appear to have spent a day in jail, and residents say that in fact he was appointed acting station commander for a while after the incident.

A police colleague says that the case affected him deeply, that That man has been through a lot. That thing has pained him, and that he went through disciplinary, and was suspended. Daily Maverick attempted to approach Lefoka for his version of events, but the station commander, Captain KW Mpete, said that this was not what Lefoka would want. I cannot tell him you are here, Mpete said, and referred us to the SAPS communications officer.