President Zuma must establish a Judicial Commission of Inquiry into police brutality
Note to editors: The following statement was distributed in Daveyton today where DA Leader in Gauteng, John Moodey MPL, DA National Spokesperson and Deputy Federal Chairperson, Mmusi Maimane; DA Shadow Minister of Police, Dianne Kohler Barnard MP; DA Constituency Head for Daveyton, Emmah More MP and DA Gauteng Community Safety Spokesperson, Kate Lorimer MPL visited the site where Emidio Macia was brutally assaulted.
My visit to the scene of where the brutal assault of Emidio Macia took place in Daveyton has saddened and angered me to my core.
The DA extends its sincere condolences to the family, friends and loved ones of Mr Macia. Our heart goes out in particular to his seven year old son, who was robbed of his father. I cannot imagine the pain and anger he must be feeling today. We share this anger, as do all South Africans who are sick and tired of the abuse at the hands of the South African Police Service.
How is it that nearly 20 years after the end of the brutal Apartheid regime, where such murders at the hands of the security police were commonplace, we must still grieve as we do today?
The response by the government and the SAPS has not been good enough. Where is the plan to deal with this problem? Why did the despicable murder of Andries Tatane, and the images of miners being gunned down in cold blood at Marikana not force action? Why have we not de-militarised the police as the National Development Plan demands? Why do Ministers who claim "kill the bastards" still serve in the cabinet? Where is the Minister of Police, Nathi Mthethwa?
Until such stage as the President tackles the causes, and not just the symptoms, the deaths of every person at the hands of the SAPS will hang over his head. The President, his Minister of Police and his National Commissioner should be ashamed of themselves.
How can they not be, if one considers the following statistics? In 2011/2012, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) received 4 923 complaints in relation to the actions of SAPS members. Of these, 720 were deaths, 88 domestic violence cases, 2 320 allegations of criminal offences and 1 795 misconduct cases. Just this past month, IPID has reported that 3 constables have been arrested for rape.
There have been a consistently high number of deaths that should years ago have forced SAPS leadership into action.
- In 2006/2008 - 698 deaths
- In 2007/2008 - 792 deaths
- In 2008/2009 - 912 deaths
- In 2009/2010 - 860 deaths
- In 2010/2011 - 797 deaths
Yet the IPID was only able to recommend 162 death cases and 383 criminal matters for prosecution in 2011/12. In a reply to a parliamentary question last year, Minister Mthethwa revealed that 144 SAPS members had been charged with murder and 91 had been charged with rape in 2011/2012.
These figures demonstrate a problem of crisis proportions. So why has there not been a commensurate response from the government?
It is no co-incidence that in 2008, the year in which the most people were killed at the hands of the police, then Deputy Minister of Police, Susan Shabangu told police service members that they must "kill the bastards." She went on to say, "you must not worry about the regulations. I want no warning shots. You have one shot and it must be a kill shot."
Then, instead of acting to professionalise the police, the government militarised it. In 2010, President Zuma supported the re-implementation of the "Apartheid era" military ranks into the police proposed by now disgraced former National Police Commissioner Bheki Cele.
A year later, the world watched in horror the footage of the murder of Andries Tatane. South Africa's global reputation for having a brutal police service was cemented last year when images of police opening fire on striking mineworkers were beamed across the world.
Besides being encouraged to shoot first and not ask questions later, our police officers are clearly not receiving the training necessary to target criminals and protect innocent people. Nor are they receiving adequate disciplinary action for their actions. The sanction for assault, common assault and assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm ranges from a verbal warning to dismissal or a fine. This allows for a culture of impunity to develop, and indeed acts as a parallel criminal justice system which sees criminal acts by police members dealt with ‘in-house' instead of in the courts. Indeed, the norm is that SAPS members are rarely suspended on the lead up to a trial where the NPA has determined there is aprima facie case. They are left on duty, fully armed.
It is time for President Zuma to deal with the causes of police brutality and not just the symptoms. He needs to ascertain precisely what has led to the increase in police brutality under his watch and how best to root it out.
I have written to President Jacob Zuma today to request that he urgently establishes a Judicial Commission of Inquiry into pervasive police brutality. This Commission must investigate:
- The root causes of the problem;
- The actions of senior leaders within and without the police service which may or may not have encouraged this culture of brutality with impunity within our police service; and
- What can be done to cut out this culture of brutality that has crept into the police service.
It's not enough to merely ask questions about specific incidents such as Marikana and Daveyton. This country needs to know there is a plan to ensure they are not repeated over and over again.
If President Zuma is serious about turning this tragic situation around, he must establish a Commission as a matter of urgency. We need a professional police service to catch violent criminals, not a trigger-happy police force that kills innocent civilians.
Statement issued by Dianne Kohler Barnard MP, DA Shadow Minister of Police, March 3 2013
Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter
