333 deaths and 4170 assault cases against cops – Blame poor training, lack of leadership

The levels of crime in South Africa have reached crisis level and urgent attention is needed to address this scourge, especially considering the number of South African Police Service (SAPS) members who have in recent times found themselves on the wrong side of the law.

The Independent Police Investigative Directorate annual report for the period 2020/21, shows that the IPID had investigated 5 998 cases which involved members of the SAPS.

One of the most notable recent cases where some police officials are implicated in alleged wrongdoing, is the Phala Phala farm scandal involving President Cyril Ramaphosa.

ALSO READ: Phala Phala farm theft: Ipid to investigate police officers allegedly involved in ‘cover-up’

This, however, is a largely insignificant case when one considers there were 333 deaths reported as a result of police action, and 4 170 assault cases against officers in the previous year.

The provinces with the leading cases include the Western Cape with 1 224, followed by Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) with 1 082 and 763 cases respectively.

Recruitment process must be tightened up

Speaking to The Citizen, Themba Maseko, Director of Executive Education at the Wits School of Governance, said it is a serious concern that so many police officers have found themselves on the wrong side of the law.

Masuku questioned how many of the reported cases actually resulted in criminal prosecutions.

“As we saw with the murder of Ntunzi and Andries Tatane, it’s not enough to allege criminality and that needs to be proven beyond reasonable doubt.

“The concern around deaths in custody can be difficult to prove, however it’s important for communities to trust the police and it’s a serious cause of concern when police cannot be trusted,” he said.

Another expert, Gareth Newman from the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), said while the issue is not unique to South Africa, it poses a lot of concerns.

“Wherever you have police organisations that have challenges relating to the recruitment processes, training, accountability and leadership, you are going to end up with a situation where too many police officials are involved in this conduct of crime, corruption and brutality.

“Wrong people are let into the police and not properly vetted, sometimes that is the case and the training might not be adequate you’ll also get a situation where police, once they are in the station and they finish their training and that’s also not adequate,” said Newman.

Lack of leadership to blame for many of the problems

The absence of leadership at SAPS has for the longest time been cited as one of the leading contributing factors to the challenges at SAPS.

For a long time, the former police commissioner General Khehla Sitole and Police Minister Bheki Cele were not seeing eye to eye, with many questioning why the duo were still at the helm.

Sitole’s contract was terminated by Ramaphosa and his last day in office was early this year.

ALSO READ: SAPS leads the country in corruption complaints, as Ramaphosa appoints Masemola as top cop

Newman also raised concerns around the deterioration of the police’s capabilities around planning, procurement and accountability, among many other issues.

“Of real worry is the decline in the ability of the SAPS to discipline members who get involved in this conduct and other forms of criminality.

No accountability

According to Newman, some of the misconduct ranges from coming late to work to drinking alcohol while on duty.

Newman stressed that while it’s not all police officials who engage in misconduct, the fact that “far too many” of them are, this is worrisome and that it brings the whole organisation into disrepute.

“It takes one police official to undermine the good work of 50 good police officials and it is, therefore, absolutely critical for the police service to focus on setting up dedicated internal investigating units to go after corrupt officials.

“There needs to be a reform of the SAPS, we need to make sure there is leadership of men and women of real integrity and expertise and that they are able to put in place the necessary systems to manage police officers in such a way that motivates them, as well as making sure good officers get the necessary support and resourced to make sure others who are involved in criminality are dealt with swiftly.”

Newman’s colleague at the ISS, Dr Johan Burger echoed his statement, saying this type of conduct creates a climate where some police officials feel free to do whatever they want with impunity.

“There is very little accountability and as a result the general public begins to lose their trust in the police which can be extremely harmful,” said Burger.

He said the the decline in police numbers over the last few years and the inability to recruit new officers, are both matters that should concern everyone, particularly at a time when the country is faced with a serious challenge of violent crimes.

Around four years ago, the police force’s manpower stood at just over 150 000, but that has now declined to around 144 000.

“It is important to mention that it is not only about the numbers but the quality of recruits,” Burger added.

“The command and control within SAPS, especially at police station level, is not where it is supposed to be and you have a situation where even the IPID raises concerns about only a few cases referred to them are acted upon.”

Some statistics about police criminality

Deaths

According to the annual SAPS report for the 2020/21 period, there were 217 deaths reported in police custody.

Deaths which occurred as a result of police action was 333.

While most provinces experienced a decrease, it was in Gauteng and KZN which experienced an increase of 24% and 8% respectively.

The IPID nationally experienced a decrease of 21%.

In some instances, incidents of death as a result of police action had more than one victim. There were incidents where three or more victims died and were reported in Gauteng and KZN.

Gauteng had recorded 10 incidents of multiple deaths, ranging between 2 to 5 victims in a scene, while KZN recorded eight incidents of multiple deaths, ranging between 2 to 3 victims.

Corruption

A total of 66 cases of corruption were reported, which comprises 60 cases against SAPS members and 6 cases against MPs.

Disciplinary recommendations made to SAPS

A total number of 2 173 recommendations were referred to SAPS during the period under review, which comprises 686 recommendations where the IPID recommended that SAPS discipline its member(s), and 1 487 recommendations where the IPID recommended no disciplinary action.

Most of the cases referred related to assault, with 1 657 recommendations, followed by complaints of discharge of an official firearm with 178 cases, and death as a result of police action with 146 cases.

Arrests of SAPS members

The IPID conducted a total of 64 arrests, which resulted in 87 SAPS members being arrested for various crimes. Some of the arrests were made by SAPS before IPID investigators arrived at the crime scene or took over the investigation.

Among others, there were 333 deaths reported as a result of police action and 4 170 assault cases.

The provinces with the leading cases include the Western Cape with 1 224, followed by Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) with 1 082 and 763 cases respectively.

A total of 803 cases were on the court roll.

Maseko told The Citizen while the statistics confirm that no one is above the law, it is a serious concern that so many police officers have been on the wrong side of the law.

“It compromises the integrity and trust that communities should have on the police as first line of defence.

“It compromises the integrity and trust that communities should have on the police as a first line of defence.

“However, there’s a lot more that police should do including screening and regular integrity checks that can give police managers early warnings regarding the conduct of their members.

“The other area is also is with regards to recruitment process. The process needs to be rigorous to ensure that only police officers with highest level of integrity are recruited,” said Masuku.