Ipid: ‘Abusive and unacceptable’ calls must stop
Police watchdog Ipid has pleaded with South Africans to stop contacting their offices and insulting staff.
Staff at the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) have been fielding what it describes as abusive and unacceptable calls from angry residents to its standby numbers.
Police and South African National Defence Force (SANDF) troops have been deployed to enforce the national lockdown.
Spokesperson Sontaga Seisa says the increase in abusive phone calls started with the lockdown.
“People are calling for something that according to us is not even necessary.
“We are getting a lot of calls where someone will say ‘soldiers are not wearing gloves’ and the one will call and say they don’t see the visibility of soldiers in their area.”
Ipid warns that will have a negative impact on services to the public.
“Imagine trying to explain to someone that is calling and making a joke out of that, while someone else is calling with a genuine IPID related concern. So we would like to appeal to people to please desist from this action.”