‘It shouldn’t get to that stage’: Police and Crime Intelligence failures blamed for shootouts in KZN

Over the last few days questions have been raised about whether police in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) have been heavy-handed.

It comes after nine suspects were killed in three separate shootouts with police in the province. The incidents all took place within four days.

Police shootouts in KZN

KZN Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi on Friday defended the actions of law enforcement officers in the province, saying police are tasked with “bringing perpetrators to justice”.

He said police only shoot when fired at first.

“In the past three months we have arrested over 35 000 suspects who did not fight with the police. They will be taken through the justice system as our laws dictates, however those suspects who put the lives of police officers and residents in danger by resisting arrest through gunshots leave police with no option but to return fire in self-defence and neutralising the danger,” said Mkhwanazi.

ALSO READ: Two more suspects killed in KZN police shootout on Friday

More than 40 suspects have been killed in shootouts with police in KZN in the last three months.

KZN violence monitor and social justice advocate Mary de Haas, however, said the high number of shootouts can be blamed on failures by police and Crime Intelligence.

Failures by police and Crime Intelligence

“It shouldn’t be happening; it’s like apartheid all over again,” she said in an interview with SABC.

“When you just shoot people dead you don’t know whether among them are innocent people.  It’s not correct and it shouldn’t be happening in the first place.

“If the police were functioning properly. You wouldn’t have so many armed criminals around. That’s why we have a Crime Intelligence. They are supposed to pick up where the guns are, they are supposed to pre-empt this type of thing to prevent the shootouts.”

She said police members should never be shot at by criminals.

“It should not get to the stage where police are confronted by armed people,” she said.

“It starts with Crime Intelligence and Crime Intelligence is just not working.”

De Haas said both police and Crime Intelligence have failed in preventing the rampant trade of illegal guns in the KZN.

She also questioned Mkhwanazi’s insistence that police only shoot in self-defence, saying forensic evidence sometimes indicates otherwise.

“You can’t always believe what the police say.”

ALSO READ: KZN plagued by mass murders, political killings – Mkhwanazi notes successful convictions

She added that corruption is also a factor, with incidents of police members working with gangs that deal in drugs.  

‘Ipid not dealing with rogue police’

De Haas also took aim at the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid).

“The problem is Ipid should be dealing with it, but the police can kill with impunity because in KwaZulu-Natal hundreds of cases are never properly investigated.

“It’s very easy for the police to kill people and get away with it.”

In an interview with the Sunday Times in April, Ipid head Dikeledi Ntlatseng said there is a concern that police officers might be killing suspects because its easier than taking them to court.

“It’s worrying that this is how police officers are short-circuiting the criminal justice system. And it means that the police officers we have as a country are not qualified to do the job,” she said.