A professional counsellor who was allegedly assaulted by three police officers when she tried to get the state to take an eight-month-old child to a place of safety says she wants the officers arrested and sent to jail.
Nonhlanhla Mazaleni, 46, from Diepkloof, Soweto, was punched and kicked, allegedly by the officers, on January 15 at Nthabiseng Clinic at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital.
She had taken the baby to the hospital for medical examination after a friend of the child's mother allegedly tried to rape the toddler.
Mazaleni wanted to help the child and her mother to get protection from the state by being taken to a place of safety, but instead she said she got beaten up.
Mazaleni said the child's 23-year-old mother is addicted to drugs and cannot take care of the baby, who is exposed to risks of being abused.
She said the mother of the child came to her and told her that a male friend she was smoking drugs with in the presence of the child attempted to rape her daughter.
“We went to the police station twice to get assistance. She was not allowed to open a case because they [officers] said she was high. We went back again later in the afternoon around 1.30pm and that’s when we got assisted. But the mother was arrested and a case of negligence was opened against her,” she said.
Mazaleni said she and a colleague along with the child were taken by the police to Nthabiseng Clinic were the child was medically examined and no abuse trace was found.
She said she arranged for the child to be taken to a place of safety in Tshiawelo but the social worker they communicated with said only the police have the authority to take the child to the place. She then told the police she was leaving the child in their hands.
“That’s when the police started insulting me and telling me that I can’t leave the child with them. They then started beating and kicking me,” she said.
She suffered injuries to her right eye, has a bruised left leg and she twisted her right leg.
Mazaleni's colleague Gugulethu Ngubane, 26, confirmed the beating.
“They threw her to the ground, dragged her by the legs and started beating her up,” said Ngubane.
Mazaleni has since opened a case of assault against the officers.
Gauteng police spokesperson Capt Mavela Masondo said a case of common assault has been opened at the Diepkloof police station.
Masondo said the docket has been referred to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) for investigation.
Ipid spokesperson Ndileka Cola confirmed they were investigating an assault case against the police officers.
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