Police van knocks over woman, breaks her pelvis, shoots rubber bullets at crowd and drives off

Nolwazi Tokhwe from Capricorn is being treated in hospital. She also has a fractured spine and injured right arm.

• Nolwazi Tokhwe from Capricorn in Cape Town is being treated in hospital for a broken pelvis, fractured spine and injured right arm.
• She says she was fetching her relatives from a street party in the area when a police van knocked her.
• The police were at the scene to disperse the large crowd of partygoers. But eyewitnesses say the officers at the scene did nothing to help Tokhwe.
• Muizenberg police are investigating a case of reckless and negligent driving and public violence.

At midnight on Saturday Nolwazi Tokhwe was walking from her home in Capricorn, Cape Town to collect her younger relatives from a busy street party in Berg Street. She arrived to find a chaotic scene with youngsters scrambling as police arrived to disperse them.

She says she was about to cross the road in the dark when a police van came speeding “out of nowhere” and knocked her and apparently drove over her right arm. According to eyewitnesses the officer, known to the victim, did not stop to help or to check on her condition.

Tokhwe is still not able to sit up in bed and is undergoing treatment at Victoria Hospital. When we saw her in hospital on Wednesday afternoon, she was still in a lot of pain and her right arm was bandaged.

“The van stopped while I was lying on the road, unable to get up. Police officers, including the driver, came out and started dispersing the crowd that was at the street bash. There were two police vans, not sure how many officers, but not one of them came to help me,” she says.

Tokhwe described the terrifying moments while she was unable to move after the accident, where she heard what sounded like rubber bullets being fired to disperse the partygoers.

“I think all of this commotion took about five minutes, then the officers all returned to their vehicles and drove off,” she said.

There is a short video of Tokhwe shouting in pain as one of the partygoers tried to pull her out of the road. “I asked them to leave me because I was not sure how badly I was injured and moving me could make things worse,” said Tokhwe.

The mother of two said she sustained a broken pelvis and a fractured bone on her spine. “I don’t want to go into too much detail regarding my medical condition, but I was told that I might have to use a wheelchair and would need a lot of physiotherapy,” she said.

Tokhwe said she recognised the officer who knocked her and provided GroundUp with the name.

“I know him. Most people know him because he works a lot in our area. He is a very rude man and many people have complained about how he abuses his power,” said Tokhwe, who plans to open a case against the officer soon.

Residents from Capricorn, supported by EFF members, marched to Muizenberg police station on Tuesday, calling for an investigation into the incident. Photo: Ashraf Hendricks

Speaking anonymously, an eyewitness from the street party, told GroundUp that it was a “pens down event” celebrating the start of the school holidays.

“Two police vans came fast, and it looked like the first van lost control. It was really speeding. The van drove into Nolwazi and another guy. I think there were more people knocked over as well.”

“The whole crowd was shocked and scared. The police officers got out of the vans and just started shooting at all of us, so we ran,” said the eyewitness.

Police spokesperson Wesley Twigg said that Muizenberg police are investigating a case of reckless and negligent driving and public violence following the incident on 23 March in Berg Road.

“The victim was taken to a medical facility for medical treatment. The circumstances surrounding the incident forms part of the police investigation,” he said. The police have not yet responded to our questions on what action they have taken against the officer involved.

Frustrated by the police’s inaction, about 40 residents from Capricorn, supported by EFF members, marched to Muizenberg police station on Tuesday, calling for an investigation into the incident. Tokhwe’s niece, Nolukhanyo Zibaya, was one of the marchers.

Zibaya told GroundUp that their family is getting a lot of support from the community. “We are now also fighting for the suspension of the police officer who knocked Nolwazi,” said Zibaya.

She vowed that the community would take to the streets again to demand accountability.

Published originally on GroundUp.

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