Durban – Greed and competition for social and political power were some of the reasons for violence at uMlazi’s notorious Glebelands Hostel, a parliamentary oversight committee on policing heard on Thursday.
Committee chairman Francois Beukman told journalists that Thursday’s visit to the uMlazi police station was important given the happenings at the hostel, which houses an estimated 22 000 people.
“We are going to be especially focusing our visit on the activities there,” he said.
The uMlazi police station featured prominently in testimony about violence at the hostel during the Moerane Commission investigating political killings in the province.
Allegations were made that rogue South African Police Service (SAPS) members from uMlazi were involved in supplying police issued weapons to hitmen at the hostel and also directing them on hits.
Community activist Vanessa Burger told the commission that more than 90 deaths in the province could be linked to Glebelands-based hitmen.
Police were also alleged to be involved in torture and extortion at the hostel. All of those testifying at the commission in July, attributed the hostel violence to greed and a desire for power -- particularly political power.
Beukman said the committee met with some of the Moerane Commission witnesses earlier in the day.
He said it was important that police watchdog, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID), cooperated with the commission.
“If there is any police wrongdoing, police must make sure that those police persons are investigated and they are no longer part of SAPS. If there are issues of torture, systemic corruption, they must be investigated,” said Beukman.
Chairman of the parliamentary oversight committee on policing, Francois Beukman, briefs journalists at the uMlazi Police Station.
VIDEO: ANA Reporter
“We also had serious concerns raised about the head of IPID in the province, and those are matters we will take up tomorrow.”
The committee has been traversing KwaZulu-Natal since Monday, assessing the state of policing. On Thursday morning, they conducted a four-hour visit at Chatsworth police station before meeting at uMlazi.
At a presentation given at the station, the committee heard that the causes of conflict at Glebelands could be attributed to greed in the form of illicit money collections, selling of rooms and or beds and “collecting” (extorting) money from taxi owners.
Other conflict areas were competition for social and political power, competition for resources, corruption and collusion by state officials, poor living conditions and suspicion or vengeance.
The committee also heard that there had been 12 murders inside the hostel complex this year, 12 attempted murders and five acts of intimidation.
It had been particularly violent in 2014 and 2015, with both years recording 23 attempted murders, 15 and 17 murders respectively and 11 and seven acts of intimidation respectively.
There were five murders recorded in 2016, seven attempted murders and four acts of intimidation.
According to the presentation, five visible policing members were deployed on a daily basis at the hostel, as were eight public-order-policing members and eight metro police members. The number of deployments was guided by threat assessments and early warnings by crime intelligence.
Daily operations at the hostel included proactive patrols; stop and searches; vehicle check points; room searches; drug and shebeen raids; and attending to complaints.
Chairman of the parliamentary oversight committee on policing, Francois Beukman, listens to presentations at the uMlazi Police Station. Picture: ANA Reporter
Twice weekly operations consisted of cordon and search of blocks, arrests of wanted suspects, and recoveries of illegal firearms.
According to the presentation, SAPS was investigating 49 cases of murder, 65 cases of attempted murder, 27 cases of intimidation, 27 cases of unlicensed firearms and 14 cases of abandoned firearms within the hostel.
The number of arrests for murder amounted to 25 out of a total of 66 cases that included Glebelands itself, outside the hostel and outside uMlazi/other stations.
On Friday, the committee will meet at the provincial head office of special investigative unit, the Hawks, to receive a briefing from acting Hawks head Lieutenant General Yolisa Matakata about a break-in that occurred at the unit’s national head office in July.
On the same day it will receive briefings from IPID on allegations of police misconduct made during the Moerane Commission. The commission resumes on 16 August in Mayville, Durban.