South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) has demanded that the VIP Protection Unit policemen who attacked drivers on the N1 motorway face heavy punishment.
Members of Deputy President Paul Mashatile's VIP Protection Unit can be seen attacking three young guys in a blue VW Polo in a video that has gone viral on social media.
Since then, the video has drawn condemnation from a number of groups.
The Police Ministry acknowledged that the servicemen had been suspended and are subject to internal disciplinary actions in a statement.
For his part, ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula urged the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) to take additional action at a media briefing on Wednesday.
Mbalula characterized the policemen's conduct as violent and pointless.
"Let's say that somebody had died. Those police officers must account for their actions. Those incidents are very, very bad, especially to unarmed people being kicked like footballs like that," he stated.
However, the ANC secretary-general said that it was necessary to determine whether the deputy president was in any danger from the alleged drivers.
"There should be serious aggravating circumstances that leads somebody to act in the manner in which they did," Mbalula stressed.
Mbalula downplayed accusations that Mashatile was to blame for the cops' behavior as "easy point-scoring."