‘Police captain called me a k****r but boss says ‘move on’

A senior police officer could find herself in trouble after allegedly calling her colleague the k-word.

Then the victim was allegedly told to “move on” by his station commander.

The racial incident, which is under police investigation, allegedly occurred at the Diepsloot Police Station in June.

According to a grievance report and statement submitted to the police, the constable was on duty capturing dockets when the incident occurred.

The statement reads in part: “I was standing at the charge office with my colleagues ... when the captain called me to the crime office. She showed me two [grievous bodily harm] dockets which were not registered and when I tried to explain why the dockets didn’t have case numbers the captain immediately raised her voice, shouted at me and pointed fingers at me, calling me the k-word and threatening to write me on the occurrence book.”

It is not the first time that the captain has been accused of being a racist by a fellow police officer at the same station.

Another police officer alleged that he was called a baboon by the same captain and reported the matter to the station commander.

“He [the commander] just brought us together and asked that she apologise and that I forgive her,” alleged the officer.

In a meeting which was allegedly secretly recorded, the commander can be heard telling the constable to get over the racial slur, saying he does “not have a matric and should be grateful that you have a job”.

The commander denied the allegation, saying he did not class people.

City Press has seen a medical report in which a specialist psychiatrist referred the constable to a clinical psychologist after scoring him “high on individual and clinical rating depression scales”.

The clinical psychologist observed that the constable had severe symptoms of depression.

“He has indicated that since the incident he has been feeling angry and frustrated,” reads the clinical psychologist’s report.

Gauteng provincial police spokesperson Mathapelo Peters confirmed that the police are investigating:

“I can confirm that criminal and department investigations are under way, [but] we cannot comment publicly on either one because we do not comment on internal matters in the public domain.

“Medical records of employees are confidential. We will therefore not comment on this allegation.”

Abram Mashego Senior journalist | City Press

+27 11 713 9001 abram.mashego@citypress.co.za Media Park, 69 Kingsway Road, Auckland Park

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