Father Wins R250,000 After Police Shot Him With Rubber Bullets in Vryburg

When Tebogo Gasetingwe left his home in November 2020, he never imagined the day would end in blood, trauma, and years of scars, both physical and psychological. Now, nearly four years later, the father of four has finally received some measure of justice.

The North West Division of the High Court in Mahikeng has ordered the South African Police Service (SAPS) to pay him R250,000 in damages and an additional R104,700 for future psychological treatment after officers shot him at close range with rubber bullets, despite his innocence.

A father caught in the wrong place

On the afternoon of November 27, 2020, protests over poor service delivery rocked the town of Vryburg. Gasetingwe, 38 at the time, had parked outside Econo Foods with his pregnant partner and young daughter. Like many residents, he kept his family inside the car, watching as unrest flared and eventually began to settle.

Only once the chaos appeared to calm did he step out, standing with bystanders, more a protective father than a participant. “I was not a provocateur,” he later told the court, describing how he was simply trying to ensure his family’s safety while seeing what had caused the commotion.

It was then that two SAPS Quantum vans arrived. Witnesses described how one passed by while the other stopped nearby. Officers inside fixated on Gasetingwe. Without warning, he heard chilling words: “Shoot this guy, shoot this guy.”

He raised his arm instinctively to shield himself, but within seconds, rubber bullets tore into his right forearm and thigh.

Scars beyond the skin

The attack left Gasetingwe bleeding and shaken. He would later testify through tears about the pain, humiliation, and permanent scars. “I suffer flashbacks,” he told the court, admitting that anxiety has become a constant shadow in his life.

At the time, he sustained his livelihood by running a tuckshop and serving as a community liaison officer, roles that demanded physical mobility and public interaction. The incident, he said, not only damaged his body but eroded his confidence and trust.

A courtroom where truth stood unchallenged

When the case reached court, SAPS chose not to call a single witness in their defense. Gasetingwe’s account of what happened remained unchallenged, something Acting Judge CSP Oosthuizen-Senekal noted in her ruling.

The judge found his testimony credible, clear, and consistent. She was blunt in her criticism of the police, stressing that constitutional rights mean little without remedies that are “meaningful, substantive, and capable of giving real effect.”

“This award must not only compensate the plaintiff for his pain and suffering,” she ruled, “but also affirm constitutional rights, signal this court’s disapproval of gratuitous police violence, and deter similar abuses in the future.”

Public reaction: a familiar story of police force

Gasetingwe’s ordeal adds to a long list of complaints South Africans have voiced about police heavy-handedness, especially during protests. Social media users reacting to the judgment described it as “long overdue accountability” but lamented how rare such outcomes are.

Civil rights organisations have warned that cases like this are not isolated. From Marikana in 2012 to countless smaller incidents in townships and rural towns, the SAPS has faced accusations of responding to public gatherings with excessive and unlawful force.

Beyond damages: what justice means

For Gasetingwe, the R250,000 and therapy funds may ease some burdens, but no monetary value can erase the sight of his child watching her father bleed, or the trauma his pregnant partner endured in those terrifying minutes.

The judgment, however, is significant. It reaffirms the principle that ordinary South Africans, even bystanders, have constitutional protections against abuse at the hands of those meant to uphold the law.

As one local commentator put it: “This is not just about one man’s pain, it’s about reminding SAPS that a uniform is not a license to terrorise communities.”

{Source: IOL}

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