Constable Vlotman is given a R500 fine and a five year suspension sentence

Date: 18 Jan 1987
Updated: 30 Sep 2019

On 18 January 1987, Constable Vlotman a member of the South African Police Services (SAPS) who assaulted three journalists in Athlone, Cape Town, in September 1985, was given a R500 fine and suspended for three years. Constable Vlotman had jumped out of a police Casspir and assaulted the journalists with a sjambok as they were sheltering from birdshot and teargas. The verdict against Constable Vlotman may have been intended to create the impression that the Apartheid government was concerned about threats to media freedom. However, the sentence meted out suggests that the Apartheid government was simulteneously making a mockery of the attack on the journalists and showing a concealed disdain for media freedom.

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01Anon, (1997) 'Chronology Of Some Pointers To The History Of The Media In South Africa' From O'Malley, The Heart of Hope [online] Available at www.nelsonmandela.or.za [Accessed on 18 November 2010]

Last updated · 30 Sep 2019

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2011, March 16). Constable Vlotman is given a R500 fine and a five year suspension sentence. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012684

South African History Online (2011) 'Constable Vlotman is given a R500 fine and a five year suspension sentence', South African History Online, 16 March. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012684 (Accessed: 24 September 2026).

South African History Online, Constable Vlotman is given a R500 fine and a five year suspension sentence [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012684, (accessed 24 September 2026).

"Constable Vlotman is given a R500 fine and a five year suspension sentence." South African History Online, 16 Mar. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012684. Accessed 24 Sept. 2026.

South African History Online. "Constable Vlotman is given a R500 fine and a five year suspension sentence." South African History Online. March 16, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012684.