Eldorado park journalist threatened

Police have threatened “to shoot” journalists reporting on the riots unfolding in the area.

Photo: Screenshot (eNCA)

Tensions boil over in Eldorado Park as police threaten ‘to shoot’ journalists

eNCA reporter Athi Mtila said an officer told him he “would be shot” if he disrupts efforts to contain the volatile scene in Eldorado Park

Eldorado park journalist threatened

Police have threatened “to shoot” journalists reporting on the riots unfolding in the area.

Photo: Screenshot (eNCA)

Police have threatened to gun down journalists covering the violent clashes between community members and police in Eldorado Park in Gauteng on Thursday, where a 16-year-old disabled child, Nathaniel Julius, was allegedly killed by members of the South African Police Service (SAPS).

eNCA reporter Aviwe Mtila said that a SAPS member said that “journalists must be shot” if they continue to get in the way of officers, who have fired off rubber bullets to disperse community members who gathered to protest.

Police have arrested four community members, and say that the scene remains extremely volatile. 

Reporters threatened by SAPS officer  

With utter pandemonium unfolding around them, eNCA reporters furiously explained how an officer – who was captured angrily marching away from their cameras declining to answer for the threats – had told his colleagues to shoot journalists with rubber bullets and arrest them for “getting in the way”. 

“We asked him why [they should leave the scene], he just dismissed us. He then said that I would receive shots,” said Mtila. 

“If I get shot, just know it was by the police,” he said. “When I was questioning why he wants us to be shot, he insisted that we are in their way and they must shoot us.”

During Mtila’s report (which can be seen below), the officer accused of issuing the outrageous directive can be heard ordering for the tenacious Mtila, who stalked him like a shadow, to be arrested. 

“I know him. He pointed me out specifically for the mere fact that I was asking why he wanted us shot and insisted that I will receive shots.” 

He added that SAPS officers, along with the Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) officers who are supporting them at the scene, have “seemingly become reckless” in their efforts to end the protest.

Several arrests and injuries reported in Eldorado Park protest 

SAPS Gauteng spokesperson Brigadier Mathapelo Peters said that police were trying their best to control the rapidly escalating situation in Eldorado Park. 

“This morning we had to deploy our public order police to help in Eldorado Park after violent attacks by residents who are allegedly accusing police of having shot and killed a 16-year-old boy,” she said. 

She said that some of her colleagues had been injured in addition to the many residents and community members who eNCA showed sporting injuries after being shot with rubber bullets by police.

“I can confirm that two members of SAPS and one JMPD officer have been injured, with three of our vehicles damaged.”

“We are working to contain the situation and stabilise the area. It is extremely volatile.”

Four community members have been arrested on charges of public violence, she confirmed.  

Ipid investigating death of disabled child and SAPS threats against jounalists 

Members of the Independent Police Investigation Directorate (Ipid) are currently at scene investigating both the accusations that have sparked the tumultuous scenes on Thursday, as well as more recent reports that police are currently implementing heavy-handed measures to contain the scene. 

It is alleged by the family of Julius, who had Downs Syndrome, that he had left the house to get food when a police van pulled up and turned its siren on.

When Julius got “excited” by this, police officers allegedly shot him down before taking him to Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital (without informing his distressed parents of the incident) where they left him unsupervised. 

He succumbed to his injuries on Wednesday evening.

Spokesperson Ndileka Cola said that they are yet to establish any concrete facts, but will not rest until they learn how, and by whom, Julius was killed. 

“Ipid officials are on the scene to establish what transpired in this particular incident,” she said. “We currently do not have anything tangible to report in terms of findings but we can tell you that we are going get to the bottom of it.”

Responding to the accusations by eNCA that a SAPS member had threatened to shoot journalists, Cola said that behaviour of this sort is unacceptable if true. 

“That’s quite disappointing,” she said. “The media is doing their responsibility to inform the public. Its unacceptable if true.”