The spotlight is on blue light brigades and VIP protection services following the first appearance of two suspects – a bodyguard and the driver of Madibeng mayor Douglas Maimane – yesterday in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court, facing charges of murder and defeating the ends of justice.
The killing of air force sergeant Michael Swanton once again exposes the dangerous culture surrounding the so-called blue light brigades, where armed bodyguards operate with impunity, intimidate road users and place innocent lives at risk, DA spokesperson on police Lisa-Maré Schickerling said.
Fatal shooting highlights ‘culture of impunity’
Swanton, 36, was allegedly stopped by an unmarked vehicle on 30 January because the car he and his wife travelled in had no rear number plate.
When Swanton asked for official identification, he was allegedly shot in the head.
“This culture of impunity is not isolated. South Africans will recall how members of a blue light convoy attached to the deputy president were filmed assaulting a civilian motorist on a public highway, illustrating a broader pattern of abuse, lawlessness, and disregard for human life among certain VIP protection units,” Schickerling said.
‘Thuggish behaviour’
National Assembly chair of the portfolio committee on police Ian Cameron said the shooting points to a deeply disturbing abuse of power and a complete collapse of accountability around the Madibeng mayor.
“Armed men using an unmarked BMW with flashing blue lights, no sirens, no identification and no lawful authority, forced a civilian vehicle off the road and ended up killing a serving South African Air Force member. That is not close protection, it is thuggish behaviour,” he said.
Whether these men were private security or municipal law enforcement, both possibilities are alarming, Cameron said.
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“If private security, then PSIRA registration, firearms licensing, training records, use-of-force doctrine and standard operating procedures must be interrogated immediately. If municipal law enforcement, then the unlawful use of rifles, blue lights and stop-and-search powers outside any legal framework points to a systemic failure that sits squarely with the mayor’s office.”
Previous blue light incidents
Cameron said SA has the thuggish, Gestapo-style conduct previously linked to the bodyguards of Deputy President Paul Mashatile.
“Real close protection officers operate under strict law, discipline and proportionality; they do not impersonate police, threaten civilians or shoot people who ask for identification.
“Nobody, least of all a mayor and his armed entourage, is above the law.
“This case demands an uncompromising investigation into who authorised these men, who armed them, what training they had and why a mayor was being protected in a manner indistinguishable from a criminal hit squad. Anything less would be a betrayal of the rule of law and of every professional protection officer who actually does the job properly,” he said.
Suspects appear in court as bail looms
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) regional spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana confirmed Thabang Eugene Sohole, 41, and Michael Makampe, 42, appeared briefly yesterday, facing charges of murder and defeating the ends of justice.
Sohole and Makampe, who handed themselves over at the Hercules police station, claim they were victims of an attempted hijacking.
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Mahanjana said the matter is postponed to today for a formal bail application. Criminal law expert Cornelia van Graan described the incident as shocking and said it should be addressed with utmost skill and urgency.
“It is concerning that members of the protection services resort to violence in these situations. It calls for reform and better evaluation of people charged with the protection of political figures.
These suspects should have had the necessary skills and training to de-escalate the situation without resorting to the use of force.”
Calls for reform and deterrence grow
University of Limpopo’s Witness Maluleke, said incidents of this nature are not new.
“We just witnessed police officers killed in this scenario. Ordinary law-abiding citizens are often assaulted on our roads and cases of this nature never get reported to the local police. The citizens suffer at the hands of bodyguards protecting or safeguarding high-profile politicians.
“The bodyguards in question exercise power over the citizens using excessive and maximum force; they are acting superior, while undermining basic rights of the citizens,” Maluleka said.
“Hopefully, this arrest can result in deterrent efforts to curb such ill actions.”
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