Former SA’s Got Talent winner James
Bhemgee says he was “tortured” so badly by the army that he thought the soldiers were going to kill him.
The opera singer, 54, says he got a skrik when police and the army came storming into his Rocklands, Mitchells Plain, home on Tuesday searching for drugs.
“It was between 1.30pm and 1.45pm when my son and his friends were sitting in the kitchen talking, making jokes, and I was in my room watching TV,” he explains.
“Next thing, police and army members came storming into the house.
“They just started hitting the guys in the kitchen, asking where the drugs are,” a traumatised Bhemgee told the Daily Voice on Wednesday.
Former SA's Got Talent winner, James Bhemjee was hospitalised after he was allegedly assaulted by members of the army. Video supplied
He says when he rushed out of his room, his son and his friends were lying flat on their stomachs on the kitchen floor.
“If the guys just looked up, they would be kicked or get a fist through their face.
“Police that know I don’t even smoke a cigarette allowed these army guys to pull me into a corner and hit me,” Bhemgee explains.
He says he was waterboarded - a form of torture where a cloth is placed over the victim’s nose and mouth and water is poured over it.
This form of interrogation made headlines a few years ago when terror suspects held at Guantanamo Bay said US soldiers were torturing them.
“They tortured me like the American soldiers do, waterboarding me, with a cloth with water over my face,” says Bhemgee.
“I thought I was drowning. I couldn’t breathe, this went on for 20 minutes. I felt like I was going to die.
“As I was lying there, they were hitting and kicking me. They were choking me.
“While this was happening, police were searching the house but they found nothing.
‘TORTURED’: James Bhemgee of Rocklands
“I felt as if I was some
murderer.”
“Everything they asked of us, we complied with, but they just hit. They are still going to kill someone.
“They’re here to eliminate gangsterism, yet they’re hurting people who are not even gangsters,” Bhemgee says.
Police spokesperson Noloyiso Rwexana says there is no record: "Kindly advise the complainant in this incident to approach Mitchell’s Plain SAPS to opened a criminal case in order for the allegations to be investigated."
Bhemgee went to hospital for treatment and has since been discharged.