Firstly, I must and I have, expressed shock with the ever-growing number of police recruitment. I have asked the question of what is the reason we have so many cops roaming our streets? The answer I got from one of the clever people was that "because crime is escalating". Granted then, but I reminded him that even in the old days of white-supremacy rule, Botha and his pals never directly came to the townships to abuse the people, rather they sent police to do that bidding.
I have been on the receiving end of police injustice once where the cops supposedly smelt burning marijuana and approached my soldiers and I, only to be met by a burning bicycle tyre and some weeds. The manner in which we were approached suggested that we would only speak when spoken to, like little kids, and when one of my companions refused to abide, he got a smack of his life. Mind you, we had nothing like ganja there, yet one of us got a smack.
We were unceremoniously searched "for illegal substances" and verbally abused in the process. We stood there watching with awe the actions of our protectors and servants, not fearing to assault them back but fearing the guns they hold on their waists. That was in Mpumalanga.
I came to Cape Town and subsequently resided in the same Khayelitsha the Sunday paper made mention of. Here, cops are the lords. They roam the streets fulfilling the mandate of visible policing which is nice but many unreported cases of police misconduct occur here. It was late in 2010 when myself and a couple of friends were driving to Mfuleni, and if you know the place, you will know the open space where Mfuleni residents travel by foot to Site C train station. On this night, a police van was parked there, and because I was working as a newspaper journalist at the time, I had to investigate.
We pulled our car to a halt and I approached the police van, pretending to be lost and looking for directions. Before I could get any closer to the vehicle, a male constable came out to meet me. I am a kasi-boy and believe it or not, I know what ganjah smells like. I looked past him into the van where two of his colleagues had remained. I was sure that these guys were indulging in the ancient tree of wisdom. But because I was not clad in any uniform, let alone the blue, I could not attempt at these guys. I kept it to myself and my friends.
One of which immediately recalled an event where his friends herb had been taken by cops, and we came to the conclusion that since cops can't buy the stuff without anybody asking questions, they take the ones they strip from the public and go lick it where they think they won't be seen.
"At Khayelitsha, 138 officers were disciplined in those six months (January to June). between January and December of last year, 291 officers were disciplined at the station", reports the City Press. The paper also reveals that although the Harare police station has a staff complement of 195, 205 officers were disciplined between January and December last year. This means that some officers here are repeat offenders, yet we keep them in the system.
I am among those who have lost all confidence in the police and one day many will realise that the current crop of cops must be fired. All of them, including Minister Mthethwa. They have been watching boys in Khayelitsha murder each other. Boys under the age of 20 are calling themselves gangsters and the cops are watching from the stands. They fail to chased and apprehend real criminals and instead, they come after a bunch of school kids smoking weed, beat them to pulps and then feel satisfied that they did their jobs.
It is time we rise and revolt against police brutality, police negligence, police corruption and police criminology. I will not even speak of the Marikana slaughter of mankind. They are the most dangerous criminals but can not be viewed as such so long as they are clad in the blue uniform.
Start the revolution. I will publicise it.
Every single day on the news there’s different strikes occurring in different places; notice the joy in the faces of the police when inflicting pain upon a civilian into their van.
ReplyDeleteHaving read your take on the South African Police Service running the country, you have arisen many instances in my life where I’ve experienced the abuse of police. The words of Dr Mamphela Ramphele are echoing write now in my head when she spoke at the Ashley Kriel Memorial Lecture in September saying: “the police have become like a military force on war.” So they see anyone not in the same uniform as them as the enemy and therefore feel the need to use excessive force.
The police have always been the bad guys but maybe it all went wrong when Former Police General, Bheki Cele introduced shoot to kill. Before shoot to kill police have been secretively abusing the people they are meant to protect.
In 1998 I was residing King Williams Town with my aunt and her husband who holds a high position in the South African Defence Force. Every Friday when he came back home from Potchefstroom we knew to anticipate total chaos in the house. He would beat up my aunt. I was just eleven at the time and old enough to quickly run to their room and hide his gun. I would call the police and they would arrive as soon as possible; but instead of taking the perpetrator away, they would make jokes and tell my aunt this is how marriage is and don’t make a fool of yourself by calling us. Sort out your marriage with your husband because he’s not doing anything wrong, he’s just disciplining you. My aunt’s husband would walk them out giggling like they came for a social call.
Fast forward to 2012, I now reside in Khayelitsha where if police are called for an emergency – they don’t show up. There are gangs that are killing each other and the oldest boy you will find in these gangs is eighteen. The police don’t come when they are called as a result the community is so tired that they have taken law into their own hands.
Police is defined as “the governmental department charged with the regulation and control of the affairs of a community, now chiefly the department established to maintain order, enforce the law, and prevent and detect crime.”
And I highlight MAINTAIN ORDER, PREVENT AND DETECT CRIME because I think the police have forgotten the basics of their existence.
I don’t know how police brutality can be resolved in our country. Questions that are yet to be answered to me are: Who do we run to? Who is there to protect us without instilling fear in us whilst protecting us? How do we help ourselves, the community, and the police themselves overcome police brutality?