A Mitchells Plain barbershop owner and a crime fighter is livid after cops and the army ransacked his house looking for drugs.
Antonio Meyer, 56, has been the owner of Tony’s Barbershop and Hairdresser in Town Centre for over 30 years.
He says on 24 July, his wife Jo-Anne, 35, was at their Tafelsig home in bed feeling sick, when cops and members of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) barged into their home.
Jo-Anne says she heard a commotion outside and when she went out, a female cop ordered her to open the gate as they wanted to search the house.
“I asked whether she had a warrant. She didn’t answer and said they had received a tip-off that someone had just dropped drugs off at this house.”
She says cops started ransacking her house, while armed soldiers stood by.
She says cops found money in a cupboard and demanded to know where it came from.
“When they found the R3000 in the cupboard I told them it was of our business and that I had not banked it yet. They demanded my identity document which they scanned.”
Jo-Anne in her ransacked house
Antonio says: “These police officers all know me. I am working in this Town Centre for over 30 years. I am a minister in my church and I fight crime in the community and I am a father, how must we not feel?
“We know the police and army must do their work, but they treated us law abiding citizens like criminals.”
SAPS’ André Traut advised the family to open a case with the police or the Independent Police Investigative Directorate “so his allegation can be investigated and substantiated”.
Antonio says he feels violated. Video: Genevieve Serra