Pathetic to see ANC campaigning against ‘police brutality’ – Cope

“Why must we wait for police in Minneapolis to brutally murder an African American George Floyd, for us to organise campaigns and protests against police brutality.”

This is according to political party Congress of the People (Cope) which has questioned why the ANC is launching a campaign against police brutality and violence “as if they are not in power”.

In describing the act as pathetic, Cope spokesperson Dennis Bloem said the country’s citizens should hang their heads in shame to acknowledge the numbers of the many murdered allegedly at the hands of police in the country.

According to Bloem, Police Minister Bheki Cele will don black in protesting against forms of violence, an act Bloem believes is contradictory.

“Police brutality and torture is continuing unabated and the South African authorities are covering up for these human rights violations. The South African Human Rights Commission reported in 2017 that 266 [people] died in the hands of the police.

“In 2013 when a Zimbabwean citizen Mido Macia was brutally murdered by the police, dragging him behind a police van, we kept quiet. There were no protests, no campaigns against police brutality.

“Maybe the death of George Floyd has also awakened our consciences to stand up against police brutality in our own country, and not only police brutality but brutality of the security forces.”

Drastic reforms must take place if a change is to happen, according to the party.

“Our police officers need to be re-trained, and this needs to happen urgently,” alongside a change in the criminal justice system.

Cope plans to draft a document proposing changes to the criminal justice system, which it plans to table before Parliament.

The ANC launched a campaign last week in solidarity with African Americans who have been protesting over police brutality. The ANC and its alliance partners, the SA Communists Party, as well as Cosatu, said they were concerned at the loss of lives at the hands of police, all forms violence and racism directed at black people.

Speaking to the Citizen on Thursday morning, the ANC’s Amos Phago said the campaign was against all forms of violence, be it gender-based or femicide. The party had scheduled a dialogue at Constitutional Hill on Friday to combat some of the country’s social ills.

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