The Democratic Alliance has condemned the decision to dismiss charges against eight SAPS VIP Protection Unit officers, who were captured on video assaulting civilians on Johannesburg’s N1 highway in July 2023.
These officers, attached to Deputy President Paul Mashatile, were cleared of all charges following an internal SAPS disciplinary process, a decision the DA describes as disgraceful and indicative of a deeper crisis within the police’s internal accountability mechanisms.
According to the DA, this outcome is a direct consequence of a broken disciplinary system within SAPS, compounded by the interference of police unions and leadership unwilling to enforce meaningful consequences.
DA spokesperson on Police Ian Cameron stated: “This disgraceful outcome is the direct result of a failed internal SAPS disciplinary system, obstructive union interference, and complicit police leadership.”
He further warned that this case is not an anomaly but “reflects a broader rot within SAPS disciplinary processes where violent conduct is excused, internal accountability is cosmetic, and politically connected officers enjoy untouchable status.”
The party argued that the video footage of the assault left no ambiguity, yet SAPS leadership still chose to approve a decision that it says undermines justice and erodes public trust. Cameron said it is increasingly evident that bodyguards assigned to the deputy president operate “as a law unto themselves—emboldened by institutional protection and unchecked by consequence.”
The exoneration, according to the DA, only strengthens the perception that VIP units function by a different set of rules, shielded from the same laws that govern ordinary South Africans.
Attention has also turned to Major General Wally Rhoode, head of the Presidential Protection Service. The DA has called for his suspension and an independent investigation into his conduct, citing his controversial role in the Phala Phala farm burglary and his failure to report the crime.
They argue that this incident, along with Rhoode’s involvement in the mismanaged and costly security trip to Poland in 2023, demonstrates systemic leadership failures and a culture of impunity at the highest levels.
The DA is urging a full overhaul of SAPS’s internal disciplinary framework to ensure that acts of violent misconduct do not vanish into procedural bureaucracy. They are also calling for a parliamentary examination of how police unions obstruct disciplinary proceedings and want the perpetrators of the N1 assault to face criminal charges in court.
Furthermore, they insist that the R112,000 spent on the disciplinary chairperson be declared fruitless and wasteful expenditure, arguing that public funds were used to deliver “only impunity.”
“The DA will not rest until justice is served and the rule of law is restored—even within the ranks of those tasked to uphold it. We will not allow SAPS to become a sanctuary for thugs in uniform,” said Cameron.
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