The South African National Editors' Forum (Sanef) condemned the incident, stating that “the deletion of images is illegal and should not be tolerated in a democracy”.

The incident took place while Ritchie and fellow reporter Yolisa Tswanya were covering a story about the arrest and detention of immigrants at a Cape Town police station.

The officer allegedly pulled Ritchie from outside the police station, grabbed his camera and proceeded to delete the photograph. He did not identify himself.

Cape Argus executive editor Gasant Abarder said on Thursday: “He thought he had deleted all the images but imagine our surprise when this picture of him [see above] was left on the card”.

A police officer on the scene, with a tag that identified him only as October, did nothing to help Ritchie, and instead ordered him off the premises.

Abarder said the paper intends on taking legal action agains the official.

"Sanef encourages the Cape Argus to pursue the matter to its logical end and to ensure the official faces the full wrath of the law,” the body said in statement.