Eight officers attached to Deputy President Paul Mashatile’s VIP protection unit, accused of assault, in the dock at the Randburg Magistrates’ Court. (Photo: Michelle Banda) Nearly three years after they were caught on camera beating military trainees on the N1, Paul Mashatile’s VIP guards are finally giving their version of events. On Tuesday, 24 March, at the Randburg Magistrates’ Court, the SAPS protection unit members began testifying in their defence.
Churchill Mpakamaseni Mkhize, a member of the VIP protection unit, described the events leading up to the incident, saying the officers believed there was a threat to the Deputy President’s safety and denying assault allegations.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/DSC_7337.jpg "Some of the eight VIP Protection Unit officers at the Sandton Police Station on Sunday, 22 July 2023, where they were charged with assaulting four people on the N1 in Johannesburg. (Photo: Leon Sadiki)")
Mkhize told the court that on the afternoon of 2 July 2023, while Mashatile’s convoy was on the N1 near Fourways/Woodmead in Johannesburg, a colleague alerted him to a suspicious vehicle, a blue Polo, driving faster than the convoy.
“Each and every person [in the unit] has to have a lookout for any danger on their side,” he said. Within seconds, he saw the car himself: “It was driving at a high speed. I also got scared at the speed. We then tried to keep it away as to not disturb the convoy.”
Mkhize said that from the back seat, with his window open and an R5 rifle in his hand, he signalled to the driver to slow down using hand gestures, and screamed that he must move away because they were police officers, travelling in branded cars fitted with blue lights.
He said the driver gave a thumbs-up and nodded. However, he said, the vehicle did not stop, and two cars in the convoy then boxed it in.
“After we had boxed it, it managed to slip through both of our cars and went straight to the Deputy President’s car,” Mkhize told the court.
One of the men allegedly assaulted by the officers, however, earlier told the court that he never saw the flashing blue lights from Mashatile’s convoy nor heard any sirens before his car was forced off the road in what he thought was a hijacking attempt.
Mkhize testified that they again boxed the vehicle in, and it eventually stopped. When confronted, the driver and passengers refused to get out of the car or open their doors.
“I then took a decision to do what a police officer has to do in that situation.”
Advocate Mswazi Makhubele, for the defence, asked Mkhize to elaborate.
Mkhize responded, “I am not just a police officer, I am a highly trained officer who has the duty to protect the Deputy President. I then broke the window of that car.”
At the time, the Deputy President’s then spokesperson, Vukani Mde, suggested to Daily Maverick that Mashatile had been in the convoy, but not in one of the vehicles involved, or at the scene of the alleged crime.
Mkhize maintained that the occupants’ refusal to comply, coupled with what officers perceived as a potential threat to the Deputy President, prompted him to use his rifle to smash the vehicle’s window to gain access to the car, which they wanted to search.
The other co-accused are Shadrack Molekatlane Kojana, Johannes Matome Mampuru, Posmo Joseph Mofokeng, Harmans Madumetja Ramokhonami, Phineas Molefo Boshielo, Lesiba Aggrie Ramabu and Moses Fhatuwani.
They face a range of charges, including pointing a firearm, malicious damage to property, reckless and negligent driving, and assault with the intent to do grievous bodily harm.
Makhubele put it to Mkhize that there was evidence suggesting that after gaining access to the car, he assaulted the driver using the back of a rifle.
“I used the rifle to break the window because there was nothing else I could use. For me to break the window, it was the last resort.
“I did not assault anyone; all I did was to break the window with the rifle. It’s possible that he may have been slightly hit as he was seated not far from it,” Mkhize told the court.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Screenshot-2023-07-05-at-20.24.56.jpg "A screenshot from the video of the alleged assault of three men by Deputy President Paul Mashatile's protection unit on the N1 in Johannesburg. (Screenshot: Twitter)")
One of the men who were allegedly assaulted told the court last year, “I saw my life flash in front of my eyes ... as I saw the black BMW car beside the one I was with, men who had their rifle guns pointed at us. It was clear to me that we were the target.”
‘It’s wrong’
Earlier, the court heard from Lesibana Aggrie Rambau, who drove one of the convoy vehicles. State advocate Elize le Roux asked him what his reaction was to the video footage of the incident that went public.
“When I saw the video, I saw cars similar to ours, Your Worship … and the things happening in the video were very surprising,” said Rambau.
Le Roux asked about the speed at which he had been travelling before the first attempt to stop the vehicle.
“I didn’t have time to check the speed, I was looking at the car I was following and other cars,” he told the court.
She then asked: if the court were to find that an assault had occurred, would he associate himself with it?
“I am disassociating myself, Your Worship,” replied Rambau.
“It’s because you know what happened there, next to that blue Polo was wrong. It’s wrong and assault,” responded Le Roux.
Rambau agreed: “That is correct, the assault is against the law.”
In November 2025, the accused filed a Section 174 application to have the charges dropped. They had hoped to be cleared of malicious damage to property and assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. However, the magistrate, Abdul Khan, ruled that there was sufficient evidence for the case to continue.
Juanita du Preez, the national spokesperson for the civil rights organisation Action Society, which has been following the case from the onset, said, “This trial goes to the heart of accountability within law enforcement. When those entrusted with protection become perpetrators of violence, it erodes public trust at its core. South Africans deserve clarity, accountability and consequences where the law has been broken.”
The trial continues. DM