VIP unit 'deletes' SABC footage
2009-01-09 08:05
Carien du Plessis
Johannesburg - The SABC has retrieved some of the footage that was confiscated by the VIP protection unit over the weekend.
Footage showing one of the cars from President Kgalema Motlanthe's VIP protection unit on a tow truck, has however been erased.
Snuki Zikalala, the SABC's head of news, said on Thursday his journalists arrived on the scene shortly after the accident between Motlanthe's convoy and a red Golf on the N12, and filmed it.
The cameraman's footage, which was on a computer disk, was confiscated by the police and pages were torn from the reporter's notebook.
"We are living in a constitutional democracy and are protected by an act of Parliament. They have no right to confiscate or erase any of our material," he said.
Incorrect information
The police admitted this week that some of the information they released about the incident had been incorrect.
During the incident, the VIP officials had allegedly fired a shot and the driver of the Golf was hit in the arm.
According to the police, the man's arm had been injured in the accident.
The DA said one of its Parliamentary questions to the Minister of Safety and Security had revealed that several members of the VIP unit have a criminal record.
DA MP Dianne Kohler Barnard asked that these officials be removed and that a new code of conduct be drawn up for the unit.
The department said only two of the 55 misconduct charges in the past four years had led to dismissals.
- Beeld