A witness told the Randburg Magistrates' Court that members of Deputy President Paul Mashatile's protection unit forced him to stop his car on the N1 highway, broke a car window with a rifle, dragged him and other occupants out of the car and assaulted them.

Listen to this article 4 min Listen to this article 4 min The case involving eight officers attached to Deputy President Paul Mashatile's VIP protection unit was back in the Randburg Magistrates' Court on Monday, with the defence cross-examining the State's first witness -- who was allegedly assaulted by the eight officers on the N1 highway in Johannesburg in July 2023.

During a previous hearing, the authenticity of a 57-second video which depicts the protection unit members punching and kicking the occupants of a car they had stopped on the highway took centre stage.

At that hearing, the witness, who the court ruled cannot be named, broke down twice while watching the video, identifying himself as the driver of the Polo Vivo that was stopped and the individual struck unconscious by a gun wielded by one of the accused.

On Monday, the court heard that the video had been provisionally accepted as an admissible piece of evidence. It also heard that lawyers of the eight accused had a cut-out from the video depicting one of the occupants of the Polo Vivo who claimed to have been assaulted throwing away alcohol bottles that were in the car boot.

The accused claim...