Charles Mbelu,
Ocean View
My name is Charles Mbelu, and I am a Nigerian living in Ocean View.
I work in private transport.
I am contacting you because my human rights were violated by discriminatory utterances, hate speech and a threat of violence against me with a cocked gun by a Fidelity ADT security officer who was on duty in the early hours of Friday September 27.
I was driving home from Fish Hoek to Ocean View when a security vehicle indicated that I should stop, and I did.
He came to my window and greeted me in an African language, but I responded in English. He asked me where I was coming from, and I answered him. He then asked me where I was going, and I said I was going home.
And he asked me where is home, and I told him Ocean View. He then asked me what I was doing here where he had pulled me off.
That’s when I asked him if there is a curfew, but he did not seem to understand the meaning of the word curfew. So I explained to him, and he told me that I must not say that because he is trying to do his job.
So I said to him, please go back to your car and continue with your job so that I can go home. I started my car, and I drove off gradually, but then he followed me until 10th Avenue, where I came to Kommetjie Road. I stopped before the small robot and stood there for a while and he stopped too.
I was feeling unsafe because he was still following me so I drove until opposite Cape Medical Response and stopped. He stopped and came to my window for the second time, but this time he was aggressive.
I asked him why he was still following me, and his response was: “This is why we don’t want foreigners in South Africa.”
He said he would kill me and drew his gun from his holster, cocked it and pointed it at me. I I ran to the gate of CMR calling for help but there was no one there so I ran back to my car and drove off as quickly as I could.
He started to chase me, and so, instead of driving home, I drove straight to the police station, and when I was running inside the station, he still said to me: “Do you think you are safe at the police station.”
I started shouting for the police to open for me, and by the time an officer could open for me, the man was already standing next to me and he started to interrupt me in his language so that I won’t be able to tell the police the truth about what he did.
I told him to speak English so that I can understand what he said if and when he lied. Because he was standing close to me and in the light I could smell his breath and I saw his eyes, and he was drunk.
I told the police officer that he was drunk, but before the policeman could come out to confirm he was drunk, he ran to his car and drove off.
The policeman told me report the incident at the ADT office near Food Zone.
When I arrived there, I was asked by a Mr Liam to come in on Monday September 30 to talk to the manager. When I arrived on Monday morning to see the manager, he tried to intimidate me by telling me to remove my hands from my pocket first before talking to him.
Though it felt strange to me, I did it and told him what had happened. He did not sound disappointed at the agent but instead was asking me if I was sure that the officer was drunk and if I was sure he pointed a gun at me.
The manager later suggested that I make a case and come the following morning to identify the person. Initially we agreed that I should go there early at 5.30am during the shift handover. So I went to open a case. Here is my case number CAS7/10/2019.
Then, around 9.30pm, a man called me to ask me if I opened a case, and he asked me if I was still going to come in the morning to identify the man that pointed a firearm at me, and I said yes.
The following morning, the manager called again, this time asking me not to come earlier as previously scheduled. He said I should come in around 8am. When I got there, I identified the man and repeated my story as it had happened.
When it was his turn, the man started his statement with an apology but omitted the things he had said and done to me.
* Jade Hanning, Fidelity ADT district manager, responds: Fidelity ADT is cooperating with the police in their investigation into this matter. As part of the investigation, the SAPS has taken a statement from our officer.
* Fish Hoek station commander Lieutenant Colonel Jackie Johnson confirmed that a case had been opened.
