Police watchdog Ipid said that South Africans who wanted to lodge complaints against police officers during the lockdown should do so, whether they could identify the police officer or not.
Officials are patrolling the country’s streets on day four of the unprecedented lockdown and the directorate is urging the public to only approach it with cases within their jurisdiction.
Ipid’s Sontaga Seisa: “People don’t need to know who the exact police official is because this is the time that police officials have been deployed all over the country, not necessarily confined to their policing precinct. If they feel that they have been assaulted, then such an assault needs to be reported to the police or Ipid, then let them do so.”
Meanwhile, the national defense force said if people were not complying, the military may be forced to take extraordinary measures.
It said that any civilians who felt wronged by soldiers could report abuse at the nearest police station or the military ombudsman.