A police captain, formerly the acting head of Visible Police Support at the Joza police station in Makhanda, has won R80,000 in damages against the SAPS after posters describing her as a ‘white racist bitch’ were distributed in the police station. The posters were part of a series of events at the station following a comment she made, stating: ‘If you pick up the monkey, you need to feed it’ when referring to taking responsibility for crime prevention vehicles. This comment was construed as racist.
A police captain from Makhanda in the Eastern Cape has won R80,000 in damages from the SAPS. This after posters describing her as a “white racist bitch” were distributed within the Joza police station after she had been charged with using an expression that included the word “monkey”, which was later found to constitute unfair discrimination. In his ruling on the matter, Judge Avinash Govindjee said: “Without delving into detail regarding the racial composition and language preferences of the group that heard the utterance, and as an aside, it may be noted that the innocent expression was itself unfortunate given South Africa’s painful history.
“What may be emphasised is that the innocent expression included both a word that could be construed as a racial slur on its own, as well as a separate allusion to that same word, combined in a metaphor or unfamiliar idiom… A listener could, rightly or wrongly and bearing in mind the vagaries of language, hear a racial undertone, feel demeaned or targeted when hearing the word or conclude that the speaker was ignorant of or insensitive to the possible racial implications.” While he found that the police had not acted with malice in investigating charges brought against Captain Henrietta du Preez, he ruled that the subsequent distribution of posters in the police stations, with many fixed to Du Preez’s office door, describing her as a racist white bitch constituted defamation for which the SAPS was vicariously liable. In 2020, Du Preez was the acting Visible Police (Vispol) Support Head at the Joza police station. She conducted a parade in December 2020.
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In response to a concern raised by one of the officers on parade, she indicated that she was not prepared to take responsibility for crime prevention vehicles, which were under the command of a colleague. She used the following expression to explain her reasoning: “If you pick up the monkey, you need to feed it… If you take up the problem, you need to sort it out.” According to evidence presented to the court, she was frustrated by a colleague who had made a habit of leaving her to resolve supply chain issues, and Du Preez stated that she was no longer willing to do so. She testified that her reference to “monkey” was intended to relate to the vehicles in issue.
Throughout the court case, Du Preez maintained that her utterance did not refer to people as monkeys. The next day, however, a colleague reported her to the station commander for using a “racist expression”. According to this report, she said: “I will not worry about that… the captain [who was in charge of the crime prevention vehicles] must worry about his monkeys and I will worry about my monkeys.” An investigation was conducted, and Du Preez was charged with misconduct, intimidation or victimisation and, secondly, unfair discrimination.
She was found guilty only on the charge of unfair discrimination and dismissed in June 2021. The Safety and Security Sector Bargaining Council, however, reinstated her, and an arbitration award was issued in her favour. She was then moved to the Makhanda Stock Theft Unit.
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