A VIEW OF THE WEEK: Police and private security are now the cowboys in SA’s crime Wild West

Several years ago I took a taxi ride in downtown Manilla, Philippines, where I chatted with an old man who could prove prophetic for South Africa.

It was 2016 and Rodrigo Duterte was on the cusp of winning the presidential elections. Filipinos would go to the polls in two weeks and my driver was preaching the gospel of Duterte.

We were driving in a country that, at the time, was arguably the most dangerous in South East Asia. Drug dealing, theft, and murder were rampant and the US had sent alerts warning of constant terrorism in the Southern islands. It was a country physically divided by religion but united in crime.

ALSO READ: A VIEW OF THE WEEK: Call me anything you want, just don’t say I’m broke

In the first five years of Duterte’s controversial “crusade on crime and the drug trade”, crime reportedly dropped by over 73%. International critics slammed his campaign to kill all drug dealers and murderers, arguing that innocent people would fall victim.

While a working report found that murders went up in the new president’s first year, many of those no doubt of those innocent, the rate dropped in the years that followed.

SA’s silent ‘shoot to kill’ trend?

Eight years later and on the other side of the world, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) police have become notorious for shooting criminals during attempted arrests.

At least 10 suspects have been killed in shoot outs with police across the country over the last week, 33 in the past month, and 24 of those in KZN. Since April, 64 alleged criminals have been shot by police in standoffs.

ALSO READ: A VIEW OF THE WEEK: We’re counting on the wrong GNU

The “shoot to kill” slogan that grabbed so many headlines under former police minister Bheki Cele seems to be playing out in 2024.

While this has been applauded by some, as it was in the Philippines last decade, it likewise brings a risk of innocent people losing their lives in the process.

This is especially true if the wrong people are the ones doing the policing.

Private security turned cowboys

We came face to face with this reality on Sunday when EFF councillor Moshe Mphahlele was killed in a crossfire as metro police, police, and private security tried to remove protesters in Alexandra, Johannesburg.

It is still unclear who fired the shot that killed Mphahlele, with metro police officers being suspended and ballistic testing underway.

Initial reports suggested it was security or police who may have pulled the trigger.

Police are trained to defuse such situations. Rule number one, especially after the Marikana Massacre, is not to use live ammunition.

ALSO READ: A VIEW OF THE WEEK: Please don’t block Gauteng, Lesufi

Sadly, the memo may not have been forwarded to private security.

In his weekly letter to the nation on Monday, Ramaphosa called for citizens, the community, the metro and SA police to work together.

In our rush to open the door for private security, we need to be careful who we are letting in.

As much as community policing has helped in many areas and is vital to fighting crime, we must remember to regulate it and give it proper oversight. Private security cannot be given a licence to do whatever they want.

The war on crime may have accelerated but we must be careful who is behind the gun.

NOW READ: A VIEW OF THE WEEK: The ANC and others are about to learn that ‘after school is after school’