MBOMBELA – Some citizens in the province, especially in the Ehlanzeni region, stated that in days gone by, communities felt safe in the presence of police officers.
Now, however, the people have lost faith in some of those who are regarded as peace officers because there are many allegations against them.
The residents said they lacked confidence in the SAPS because some of the officers were too lazy to do their job. They further accused them of abusing their power, assaulting innocent people after accusing them of wrongdoing which they had no proof of.
Mpumalanga News interacted with residents who claimed to have been assaulted by police after they were accused of being in possession of illegal firearms.
One of the victims of Pienaar shared his story, “Last year I was brutally assaulted by police after they accused me of having an illegal firearm. When they released me, they did not even apologise for assaulting me for the wrong reason”
Another young victim of Matsulu who was also brutally assaulted by police in 2013 said, “I was assaulted by police for close to four hours after they’d accused me and my friends of being in possession of an illegal firearm. Later they discovered they were wrong, but did not even offer an apology. When we tried to open a case of wrongful arrest, they refused to assist us.”
Some of the findings of Mpumalanga News is that it that these allegations will impact on the alleged cordial working relationship between the police and the community.
This publication also uncovered that some community-policing forums (CPF) were dysfunctional in some areas and police visibility was not up to standard.
Therefore, making Mpumalanga a crime-free province will not be an easy feat as a lot still needs to be done.
Here are some of the views that were raised by concerned community members:
Ms Jabulisile Mpila said, “Police visibility is a problem. In most cases, they only do that once a big incident occurs, whereby, they will patrol for a few days. They need to fall in love with their job and also implement community-friendly programmes that will draw the attention and love of the community. Even criminals are aware that there is no police visibility, they operate freely.”
Another resident, Mr Sakhumuzi Shabalala indicated that employing young people in the police force caused many problems as these young cops tended to collude with criminals.
“As community members, we know that there are criminals that befriend the police to protect themselves from being arrested, especially drug lords. It is of no use even if you give police tip-offs on drug smugglers and other crimes because chances are, the culprits will know that you are the whistle-blower and target you instead,” he explained.
Mpumalanga News learnt on Tuesday that the Hawks had arrested eight police officers who were allegedly involved in trafficking of illegal goods, including cigarettes. Not responding in time when officers are called to a crime scene is another challenge that is discouraging people from cooperating with the police.
“We need to face reality, sometimes they fail to respond on time in some areas because they are misusing state vehicles. The vehicles are being used to ferry their kids to schools while others go and visit their girlfriends. We always get the same excuse that no vehicles are available,” he said.
In an interview with the MEC for community safety, security and liaison, Mr Vusi Shongwe, he lambasted police officers that were not taking their job seriously and were misusing state vehicles.
“Let me first indicate that some of the challenges that have been raised by the citizens are true and need very serious attention. I strongly condemn police officers misusing state vehicles.
We can’t deny that state vehicles are misused on weekends. I am going to work very closely with our very own provincial commissioner, Lt Gen Dumisa Magadlela to discuss the matter further and find ways of tackling the issue.
“Not so long ago, Magadlela heard an argument with a police officer after he had found a state vehicle not in its area of jurisdiction. In another incident, I was very shocked when I received a call about a state vehicle that was parked at a wedding carrying transporting liquor.
“Unfortunately, when we arrived, they had already hidden the drinks,” he explained.
Shongwe stated he was not going to debate with the community regarding the problem of the police not responding in time to crime scenes and the fact that they had no faith in the SAPS.
“Let me make this clear, – not all the police officers are involved in corruption mentioned by community members and it’s not all of them that are acting so reluctantly when they are called to a crime scene.
There are people who still have faith in us, to prove that, not so long ago I received a call from a community member informing me about a certain man who was in a possession of an illegal firearm at Karino Estate outside the CBD.
I called the police and they arrived on time, the suspect was arrested on the spot,” he added.
It also transpired there were community members who did not cooperate by reporting suspects. Shongwe said,
“We have our own programmes that deal with fighting crime like the Overall Friday. There are areas that we recently visited where we are accused of assaulting innocent people and it’s not true and such things are very discouraging.
“I don’t know, maybe it’s politically motivated. Maybe those people who are accusing us are sent by some politicians to distract us from doing our work properly,” he concluded.
