LISTEN: EFF leader recounts choking in Cape Town Council

EFF caucus leader in the City of Cape Town, Mzubani Dambuza, has given a blow-by-blow account of how he lost consciousness while being choked by a security officer during a Council sitting on Wednesday, saying he begged them to allow him to get up and walk out of the Chambers.

The peace officer identified in a video as Renato Reid, which went viral on social media, shows him allegedly choking Dambuza while apparently pinning him to the ground.

According to Reid’s LinkedIn profile, he is a SWAT Operational Commander with 18 years experience in the South African police.

His profile was shared widely on social media following the incident.

Cape Town Speaker, Felicity Purchase, said the confrontation started after Dambuza refused to leave the Council Chambers when she asked him to. 

Giving his account of what happened, Dambuza, better known as “Banzi”,  said he refused to leave the Chambers after another councillor was allowed to bring a Point of Order.

“A councillor of GOOD Party was asking a question, and then a Point of Order came from a councillor of the DA,” he said.

“She (Speaker) allowed it, meanwhile, she would always say there is no Point of Order during the time we are dealing with the speech of the mayor.

“I again raised the protective cultures of the DA, she (Purchase) named me for the first time, second time and third time and said I must be removed from Council.

“Upon that I said, I am not going to move out of Council.

“The Speaker called on what we deem as 'peace officers'.

“The rest of the caucus of the EFF started laying a protective layer around me.”

Dambuza said the incident quickly escalated.

“There is a photograph showing one of the EFF councillors, she was placing her whole body on top of me, so that I am not taken away,” he said.

“These so-called peace officers were pulling her, whether they were male or female, they were harassing a woman.

“As I grabbed the poles, they wanted to get me out and they tore my pants as they grabbed it.

“This officer, Renato Reid, came in and held me from the back on my neck and then he started strangling me.

“After he pulled me out, he placed his knee onto my neck and then he strangled me.

“I said to him, 'but you are strangling me', 'you are trying to kill me'. He did not stop, he turned me around and sat on top of me and then he continued to strangle me, this was when I was losing life (unconscious), when I became unconscious, he started hitting me from the back,  and I came back (from consciousness), then he tried to strangle me again.

"This is the time when executive director Vincent Botto stopped them.

“There was another guy holding my right arm under the table, so that I was not able to remove his hands.

“After that, I asked Vincent Botto, who is the officer, they refused to give his details.

“We went to the police station to open a case. Councilors from ANC, NCC, EFF and GOOD who were witnesses, gave statements.

"Let's say hypothetically speaking, I was wrong in terms of the rules, they carry their own opinion but there is no councillor that must be choked, the way that they dealt with it could have been better.

"I was telling them, let me go, I can get up and walk out.”

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