Standard Bank security assaulted Daily Maverick reporter Lerato Mutsila while she was on duty covering the Extinction Rebellion protest. They unlawfully deleted photos and videos from her phone and forcibly removed her from their Johannesburg headquarters. A charge of assault and unlawful deprivation of property has been lodged with the SAPS.

Standard Bank, the sole sponsor of South Africa's premier journalism awards, on Tuesday morning (19 September 2023) sent their security guards to assault, manhandle, intimidate and confiscate the phone of Daily Maverick journalist Lerato Mutsila. Mutsila was on duty to report on a protest by Extinction Rebellion at the bank's Rosebank headquarters.

Some peaceful protesters were also reportedly injured as the security guards removed them from the lobby of the bank building in the morning.

Daily Maverick chief photographer Felix Dlangamandla and Mutsila arrived at the headquarters between 7.30am and 8am on Tuesday, 19 September.

Mutsila used her phone to document the protest as it unfolded but was on more than one occasion manhandled by a woman who only gave her first name and said she was in charge of bank security. She was later identified as Karin Dirr, Internal Protection Services Manager and Travel Risk Governance at Standard Bank Group. She claimed Mutsila was not allowed to film and had to join the protesters.

Several attempts by Mutsila to point out that she was a member of the media were ignored. Ms Dirr intimidated Mutsila, pulled her by her backpack, attempted to grab her phone, physically pushed her towards...