Public order in the spotlight

Just how militaristic public order policing should be has come under the spotlight again. Picture: Boxer Ngwenya

Just how militaristic public order policing should be has come under the spotlight again. Picture: Boxer Ngwenya

Published Oct 4, 2013

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Johannesburg - As far as researcher Gareth Newham’s concerned, the numbers don’t lie.

“In 2011/12 there were 1 194 incidents of public violence and 10 744 other gatherings that demanded the attention of the police,” says the Institute for Security Studies’ (ISS) governance, crime and justice division head.

“There were 11 938 public order-related incidents that year or 33 a day, of which at least three were violent.”

Responding to these daily are South Africa’s 4 197 public order police (POP) officers.

It sounds like a lot. It’s not, says Newham.

“There is never a full complement of 4 197 on duty at any one time due to many being on leave,” he says.

“Moreover, many of these officials are not experienced given that most of the POP units were closed down during the ill-fated restructuring initiative undertaken by Jackie Selebi in 2006.”

It was an initiative that saw a complement of over 7 000 members dwindle to 2 600.

Twelve years after democracy, Selebi believed public protests to be on the decrease.

ISS researcher Johan Burger, who specialises in public order policing, says it was a short-sighted decision.

Units were well established and underwent ongoing training. And then the cut.

“The units lost many experienced members,” says Burger.

Then, in March 2008, the xenophobic violence. With minimal capacity, the POP needed military support.

“The only positive result of all this was a decision to rebuild the POP units and the number of members rose from 2 595 to 3 306.”

We’re up even higher now, so why do we still have incidents like Ficksburg, Marikana and the shooting of Durban teenager Nqobile Nzuza?

Burger says the 2006 restructuring battered more than numbers: It affected morale, training and the quality of command. This crystallised in the murder of Andries Tatane at a protest in April 2011.

POP refresher courses were introduced last year, nearly 2 000 members have passed so far, with 33 undergoing refreshers in water cannon operation, 118 in Nyala driving and 60 in video camera operating.

“We felt it necessary to address relevant focus areas of public order policing,” says ministry spokesman Zweli Mnisi.

“All new entry-level police members will undergo basic crowd management training as part of their curriculum,” he added.

Besides, says Mnisi, even short-staffed, it wasn’t as though there was a POP vacuum: “How else would they have managed to ensure that over 10 000 gatherings were peaceful?”

But, says Burger, before the new POP policy could be implemented, there was Marikana.

They should have seen it coming.

Former ISS researcher Bilkis Omar, who now works for the ministry, did in 2006.

She wrote: “One of the concerns is that the gradual decentralisation of control over public order policing has resulted in members not being appropriately trained and equipped.

“An even greater concern relates to command and control of members during crowd situations.

“This is likely to result in injuries and fatalities among members of the public during highly volatile situations, as evidenced by the Ellis Park soccer disaster of 2002 and the Harrismith municipal protest of 2005.”

Like Ficksburg. Like Marikana. Like Cato Manor.

The new POP policy developed to address the issues is with national police commissioner Riah Phiyega. It is still awaiting her approval.

Meanwhile, formal POP training is suspended “until the updated POP curriculum has been reviewed, updated and has a final draft available towards the end of 2013”, says Mnisi.

And the recently released Green Paper on policing hardly touched on the recommendations of the National Development Plan (NDP), especially concerning the demilitarisation of the police.

“Civilianising a highly militarised and politicised police force was a transformation objective after the 1994 elections,” reads the NDP.

“It was considered necessary to professionalise the police, establish a rapport with communities, develop trust in the police and promote positive community-police relations.”

“From 2000, however, the police service gradually started resembling a paramilitary force.

“This process was formalised with the reintroduction of military ranks in 2010.”

Civilians as criminals is how DA police spokeswoman Dianne Kohler Barnard describes it.

“The SAPS must be demilitarised immediately,” she says. “The SANDF treats crowds in a shoot-to-kill manner because that’s what its members are trained to do. Sadly, the then-deputy minister of police Susan Shabangu, with her reckless statements to ‘shoot the bastards’ and ‘never mind the regulations’, changed the face of the SAPS.”

The ministry rejects the term.

“Such misrepresentation is, sadly, common among political opposition parties and some so-called analysts and experts,” says Mnisi. “These ‘analysts’ and ‘experts’ have apparently taken a conscious decision to ignore the institutions and measures that are there or are being consolidated to ensure that there are no human rights abuses by the members of the police or any other government agency.”

The reintroduced military ranks were to instil a sense of pride, he says. A sense of mission and purpose.

“Rank is an essential element of police supervision and leadership,” he says.

“The police will remain demilitarised, however, there is a need to instil a sense of urgency in the members.

“And, without a clear sense of the chain of command, field accountability is at risk.”

But the NDP called demilitarisation “a short-term objective which should happen in the immediate term”.

“There is no indication at this stage of any attempts to change the mindset in the police,” says Newham.

The Star

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