Andries Tatane's death 10 years ago still leaves lingering questions about the effectiveness of public order policing and crowd management control in South Africa.
Tatane, who took part in a service delivery protest in the town of Ficksburg in the Free State, died after the police fired rubber bullets in a bid to disperse the crowd.
A year later, 34 miners from the Lonmin platinum mine lay scattered on the ground in the North West region as police fired live ammunition – yet again in an effort to defuse tension during a standoff in the area as workers protested to have their labour demands met.
Months later, news emerged of Mido Macia, a Mozambican taxi driver who perished while in police custody after being dragged by a police vehicle in Daveyton, east of Johannesburg.
In March this year, bystander Mthokozisi Ntumba became the latest victim to be added to the growing list of South Africans killed at the hands of the police after he was shot at during students protests near Wits University in Braamfontein.
This is an addition to the shambolic state that police found themselves in the recent looting and violence that gripped Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal in July, with the army having to be deployed in both provinces to restore calm and order.
While all police officers in Tatane's case have been acquitted of murder charges, the debate around the unfinished business in the Marikana massacre and Ntumba's death necessitates for South Africans to reflect on the training of the South African police officers and ask the pertinent question: "Is the SAPS in a state of paralysis?
Are our police officers overwhelmed and are they fit enough to do their jobs?
The core mandate of Public Order Policing (POP) was to promote ideal crowd control and manage capacity within the police service in order to secure public trust and maintain safety during public gatherings.
In 2014, a report by Parliament's portfolio committee on police showed that there are about 28 POP units across the country and in 2018, the Minister of Police established a panel of experts who were expected to report on policing and crowd management based on the recommendations of the Farlam Commission of Inquiry on the Marikana massacre.
But what has been clear over the past couple of years is that despite the report being released and the work of the commission completed, challenges continue to plague the SAPS and long-lasting solutions are needed urgently.
KZN violence monitor and social scientist Mary de Haas believes that a series of issues when combined results in dramatic challenges for POP units.
De Haas says a factionalised crime intelligence and police department, lack of training and discipline and lack of proper equipment coupled with corruption have been behind the failure of the units.
“This is a product of mismanagement that will take years to correct,” she says. She describes the Marikana massacre as an event that formed part of “very badly organised behaviour” and was the outcome of the militarisation of the police.
She further insists crowd control training should have been upgraded years ago.
“What I have been seeing in the last 20 years or so is a decline in discipline, command and training. It is definitely not on par with international standards. One of the key issues is the level of command. Police Minister Bheki Cele is not a police officer yet he is giving instructions on cases."
She adds that under former president Jacob Zuma's leadership, many people were placed into positions of authority that they were not qualified for and that it was "also abundantly clear that the country’s intelligence unit was captured to do political work under the Zuma era".
“In the ‘90s, the Public Order Policing unit were able to go into volatile areas and maintain their mandate without killing people. Although there were incidents and problems ever so often, the discipline was much better."
Political analyst Bheki Mngomezulu echoes De Haas’ analysis and maintains that under the apartheid regime, the police were trained in a specific manner to serve a particular discourse and that post-1994, the mistake was that training did not change much and remained very military-based.
He also highlights that the problems faced are further exacerbated by the lack of enough “feet on the ground” of police officers.
“There are very few police officers. Generally, police are outnumbered by the masses and they are not well trained in controlling crowds without killing them,” he says.
Mngomezulu says it is not always wise to bring in the SANDF as its training and mandate is different from the police.
“We cannot bring in the army to do police work,” he says.
He adds that the lack of political leadership plays a role in non-effective policing.
“Your officer will derail if you, yourself, don't have proper training. It’s as simple as that."
In some parts of the world, particularly in the US, policing has come under the spotlight following George Floyd's murder starting campaigns such as Defund The Police amid the Black Lives Matter campaign.
And while the campaigns may have not gained momentum back home, political analyst Imraan Buccas says that from the violence that broke out in KwaZulu-Natal, it is clear that South Africa operates as an “incapable state”.
He says the acknowledgement by Police Minister Bheki Cele on the police reaction demonstrated that the basics needed to properly enforce public order were not made available.
“There is a severe lack of training and resources and there is no proper and efficient management. There is a need to focus on building a capable state. We need the right people for the job, he says.
Provisions have been made in the Constitution for effective policing.
Constitutional law expert Professor George Devenish says police ought to be trained in the principles of public policing in a democracy.
"We are not a dictatorship; we are not a totalitarian state. You have to give police training in public order policing for a democracy. This requires that they have the ability to deal with crowds very firmly but in a way that is in accordance with the Bill of Rights."
He adds: "They (police) have to warn protesters and they have to be able to deal with emergencies and have to use force as a last resort. They have to be highly skilled in negotiating. This all requires special training, and that has not been done effectively. We need to get the assistance of other countries that deal with these problems."
To drive his point home, Devenish draws examples for the UK where the country's administration has often dealt with large demonstrations, particularly in London and yet police officers have the capacity to deal with those very well.
"We need to spend more time and money on training on public policing. You cannot expect basic police officers to be equipped in public order policing. They also have to be proactive, have good intelligence and know when there is going to be a protest and react to it. The ideal is that the army should come in as a last resort and they should not come in reactively."
Prevention is better than cure. It is therefore worthwhile that the SAPS and government get its act together and maintain order before it is too late.
* The Independent Police Investigative Directorate and the SAPS have meanwhile asked for more time to compile comment.
** Additional reporting by Zintle Mahlati Noni Mokati