A 10-year-old laaitie has been left traumatised after soldiers stripped him down to his trunkie and humiliating him in front of his friends - for wearing camouflage pants.
Residents living in Surwood Walk say they watched in disbelief as heavily armed soldiers rukked the boy by his arm and stripped him in the street, leaving him to run home in his onderbroekie.
Mom Sarona Simon, 34, was left fuming after the incident involving her son, Cameron, on Tuesday afternoon and demanded answers, but says the soldiers also laughed at her.
Cameron explains he was wearing old camouflage pants his mother had bought for him years ago and was playing with his friends when an army vehicle drove by.
DISTRESS: Mom Sarona Simon with her traumatised son, Cameron, 10. Picture: Monique Duval
“They got out of the tank and the one soldaat said I must come to him,” the boy says.
“I said no because I was bang because of his gun.
“Then another one in a blue military police van came to me and they took my pants off.
“I was kaalbors because it was hot and I ran home in my onnie to my mommy.”
Sarona says she got a fright when the kaal child came running down the street crying.
“I got such a skrik and they (soldiers) went around the corner, so I followed them to ask why the hell they would do something like that, but they laughed at me and told me our children mustn’t wear army clothes.
“Then they said that was an army pants that belongs to them, but they’re talking k@k. That was an old broekie I bought for my child a long time ago.
“All the shops sell camouflage goetes. They can mos see it’s not the same quality as their uniforms. I just think they were being spiteful,” she says.
CLAIMS: Soldiers forced Cameron to strip down to his trunky and then laughed at him.
Sarona says since the incident, her laaitie has become skrikkerig and she worries about the psychological effects.
“My child is so traumatised and now just keeps to himself.
“They are supposed to be here to protect us, then they catch on this k@k. I mean it’s not right.
“How can they just humiliate him like that for no reason?
“They treat us like dirt here in Hanover Park. I am not going to leave it like this, I will make a case against them.”
SANDF spokesperson, Brigadier General Madi Mgobozi, confirmed they were looking into the matter but did not respond to questions about the incident.
CLAIMS: Soldiers forced Cameron to strip down to his trunky and then laughed at him.