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20110114

Winnie and me: cop Jannie Odendaal speaks

“This bulying of police officers by the power-mad elite must stop’Solidarity … And the Institute of Race Relations warns the incident could seriously undermine police morale…

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Afrikaans cop w/o Jannie Odendaal was racially abused, assaulted and threatened by her body guards -  when he and a colleague clocked Winnie Mandela and pulled her over for reckless driving: she was speeding at 160 km an hour on the M1 motorway on December 30 2010.

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SAPS warrant/officer Jannie Odendaal has told the entire detailed story of his run-in with the passengers in the luxury silver Audi belonging to Winnie Mandela in an exclusive a radio broadcast of his trade union Solidarity.   Odendaal and a collegue  were punished immediately after the incident: both men were transferred 70 km away from their homes. And Odendaal’s life was endangered because his service-pistol was taken away from him, while he is still expected to continue working.

The Afrikaans cop in particular has been singled out as a target for vengeful hatespeech in the news media -  originating from the Mandela camp after he and a black colleague had dared to pull over Mrs Mandela ‘s luxury Audi on 30 December enroute to Sandton, speeding 160km an hour. When he pulled the vehicle over, he did not know Mrs Mandela was actually inside. He had pulled the car over because the police-tracker reported that it had been booked as ‘stolen’. However, even if he had known that Nelson Mandela’s ex-wife was a passenger in the car, he said in his radio interview, he would ‘still have done his duty.’

ODENDAAL Jannie runin with speeding Winnie Mandela Dec 302010 Sandton

A Facebook support page has been launched for SAPS w/o Jannie Odendaal who refuses to apologise to Winnie Mandela for pulling over her speeding Audi on Dec 30 2010 near Sandton.  He said Mandela and her body-guard shouted and cursed at the police and ‘showed no respect for our uniforms’.

 LISTEN TO HIS VERSION OF EVENTS IN AFRIKAANS: http://www.solidariteitradio.co.za/jannie-odendaal-vs-winnie-die-volle-storie/

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The South African Institute of Race Relations has also warned today that ‘the behaviour of senior managers in the South African Police Force, around the recent Winnie Mandela incident, damages police morale, the rule of law, and the fight against crime.”

The Afrikaans officer and his black colleague who lives in Soweto, were  severely punished by their commanding officer SAPS genl. Petros just for doing their jobs: Odendaal’s service pistol was taken away from him after the incident, he was transferred 70km from his East Rand home to Soweto, his colleague was transferred 70km away from his Soweto home to the East Rand…. it will cost them a lot of money they don’t have just to commute to work every day.

Odendaal said in his interview that he has signed himself out on sick leave due to all the stress: he says it’s far too dangerous for him to work without his service pistol and he also has to drive his own car 120km each day, which expenses he cannot afford. . He’s deeply hurt by the fact that his commanding officer, Genl. Petros, refuses to back them up.

Bring the white cop to my house to apologise…

Mrs Mandela demanded from Genl. Petros that the ‘white man must personally apologise to her in her home’. Considerable pressure was put on Odendaal to apologise to her, with one leading SAPS officer telling him in Petros’ office: “Mrs Mandela fought for the freedom of our country and you must apologise to her.’ Odendaal said at that point he was ‘thinking of apologising because my career would be in danger if I didn’t. “However he decided not to, he said in the interview, because ‘far too many important people show such contempt and utter disrespect for law and order’.

Here’s warrant/officer Odendaal’s  radio-interview of his encounter with Winnie Mandela and her body-guard to Solidarity:

He works for the Emergency Response unit at the East Rand and has been a police-officer since 1991. It is part of his job to react to violent crimes in progress but it’s also part of his job to pull over suspect vehicles while patrolling the freeways. On December 30 he and his colleague noticed a high-speed silver Audi luxury car with tinted windows driving with bright headlights on the M7 freeway north of Golden City.  They checked on the radio with the vehicle-tracker and were advised that the car had been reported stolen and was registered in the name of a company in Soweto. They didn’t know who was inside, the car had tinted windows. The police-team, driving in an unmarked Mercedes, flashed their blue-strobe lights, indicating that the driver of the silver Audi had to pull over. ‘It didn’t, we kept following it with our lights flashing but they did slow down and waved a hand-radio from the window’. Odendaal said he recognised this hand-radio: ‘it was not a police issue item and such radios are often used in armed robberies, so we decided to keep following them and called in for backup from the dog-patrol unit’. The Audi finally stopped at the Jan Smuts avenue turnoff, pointing in the direction of Sandton.  Odendaal said he and his colleague got out of their vehicle, with his colleague, as is routine, backing him up with an R1 rifle. The rifle was pointed downwards, he said. Odendaal said as he tapped on the car-boot, it was opened from the inside, while a ‘burly, strong-looking’ male passenger jumped from the Audi and immediately accosted him, pushing the officer on the chest and shouting at him, telling him that Mrs Mandela was in the car, that ‘they weren’t allowed to search the vehicle, because this wasn’t apartheid any more’.  Odendaal said he shoved the man back and then walked back to the police vehicle to fetch his Tazer. “I told the man to stop assaulting me or I would fire the Tazer’, he said. Then a second passenger, a woman who he did not immediately recognise, jumped from the car and immediately started ranting, shouting and screaming abuse at him. “I didn’t recognise her as Mrs Mandela. She had this white powder-make up all over her face and she looked much older than she does in her newspaper pictures,’ he said.

Mrs Mandela and her body guard kept shouting and yelling at the police officers. Odendaal said he was indeed ‘very shocked at the lack of respect they showed for our police uniforms and the contempt with which they spoke to us.’ Then the driver got out of the Audi too and Odendaal started exchanging information with him, both men were calm. He said the driver was ‘courteous and calm at all times’.  While Odendaal was speaking to the driver, telling him that the police-team had to search the car, as those were Genl. Petros’ orders, Mrs Mandela yelled at the driver to ‘stop this at once, everyone got back into the Audi and they drove off. “ Odendaal said they continued to follow the car until they received confirmation  that the ‘stolen-car’ warning had been withdrawn, that it was  ‘sorted out’. The police-officers, including the dog-patrol unit which had joined them in the meantime, then  returned to their police-station, where they filed a detailed incident report.

Odendaal said he had ‘expected his commanding officers to back him up because I was doing my job’. He was shocked when they didn’t: After this incident, Mrs Mandela became so irate that she demanded that the SAPS chef Petros bring the ‘white cop to her house to apologise to her’. Petros apparently received this order directly from SAPS Genl. Gela – who is his brother in law.

Solidarity trade union’s spokesman Dirk Hermann has issued a statement warning the Mandela-clan and her “aggressive body guards to leave the young cop alone.  Solidarity stands 100 percent behind our member and will not allow him to be bullied.’

Bullying of police officers by the power-mad elite must stop

Hermann: “We have ordered our legal team to provide their full support to Odendaal if the SAPS continues with its ‘bullying tactics’ against this police-officer. We are also preparing criminal charges agaisnt Mrs Madikizela-Mandela’s body guards. This could involve assault, crimen injuria and attempts to divert the course of justice. We cannot allow that ordinary citizens are pushed around like this by the political elite and organisations. We plan to push back. On the one side we stand up for this one member but on the other side we also stand up to fight on behalf of every defenceless individual against the power-mad elite. In a healthy democracy ordinary citizens receive protection and we plan to protect this important aspect of our democracy.’

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links:

http://www.solidariteitradio.co.za/jannie-odendaal-vs-winnie-die-volle-storie/

The South African Institute of Race Relations has  warned today that ‘the behaviour of senior managers in the South African Police Force, around the recent Winnie Mandela incident, damages police morale, the rule of law, and the fight against crime.”The Institute's deputy CEO, Frans Cronje, said: "Police members on the ground must be able to trust in the backing of the chain of command if they are to do their jobs effectively. In this case it appears as if the command chain has placed political considerations above its responsibility to its members. This is likely to undermine the morale not only of flying squad members around the country but also of all police officers. We therefore echo calls for an independent inquiry into events surrounding the Winnie Mandela incident. This matter goes far beyond the rights of a few officers. It goes to the heart of police effectiveness and the maintenance of the rule of law."http://www.politicsweb.co.za/politicsweb/view/politicsweb/en/page71654?oid=217284&sn=Detail&pid=71616

 

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