Sunday, May 19, 2013

Crimes of the South African Police Service


Refuting the effectiveness of the ANC police

The communist aligned ANC fought a vicious struggle to ascend to power in 1994. This communist struggle resulted in the deaths of twenty thousand people in black on black violence, that is,  between those who did the ANC’s bidding and those who did not wish to be ruled by them.

There were also whites who died in black on white violence, for example the St James Church massacre in Cape Town, all this against the Geneva conventions.

The attrition rate the year the ANC came to power in 1994 was approximately 17900 deaths per year, which includes those who have died in South African Police Service detention. This means that using a conservative calculation South Africa has lost over two hundred and fifty thousand civilians while under by the ANC in so called “peace time”.

The ANC government has tried very hard to keep these sobering statistics from the International community but they are freely available and can be gleaned from United Nation files, and other Human Rights organisations and activist websites.

The ANC ‘South African Police Service’ are claiming a decrease in crime statistics over the last few years due to proactive police work,  but we show that they are neither the sole reason behind a reduction in crime, if it is indeed happening, neither are  they good examples of law and order, as a brief perusal of the documentation provided shows. They play indeed a minor role in the combating and reduction of crime.

The general population of South Africa has invested heavily in tackling the crime issues for which they receive neither tax benefits or incentives by this government to do so, yet barriers which were hardly necessary before 1994. Remember that the security industry is one of the fastest growing and most lucrative industries in South Africa. Why?

The means used to tackle crime, as a replacement of the ANC ‘South African Police Service’ are:

Registered Armed Reaction companies

Licenced armed citizenry when this is allowed by the ANC police

Continuous crime bulletins

Private detectives when the ANC police cannot make headway in cases

Neighbourhood watches as a means of defence

CPF activity for which no payment is received

Anti-crime business initiatives

Private sector provision of vehicles for SAPS work

Private sector servicing of police vehicles at no charge

Domestic installation of Electric fences, alarm systems, dogs, security gates etc.

The use of the ANC police as a very last resort if they are available

What is never considered or added to the crime statistics are the ever escalating Human Life Violations committed by the ANC ‘South African Police Service’ itself. The statistics of these Human Rights violators are again freely available to the international community.

The ANC police have already paid a staggering 5.5 Billion rand in law suites for crimes which range from rape, theft, criminal syndication, murder, brutality, murder of civilians in detention, and mass murder of protesters. In our view the very Human Rights violations the ANC and their police wish to deny (see anti-information bill).

www,southafricanpoliceservicecrimes.blogspot.com/05272013/za


Crimes of the South African Police Service


Prove slurs against journalists or withdraw them, says editor
Candice Bailey | 20 March, 2013 06:57


Image by: Gallo Images/Thinkstock

The Sunday Times has formally asked the SA Police Service to provide evidence of claims that its journalists were paid to publish a damning story on top Hawks bosses - or withdraw the allegation.
The newspaper's editor, Ray Hartley, lodged an application in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) on Friday afternoon.
The three award-winning journalists who wrote the story - Rob Rose, Stephan Hofstatter and Mzilikazi wa Afrika - have each launched their own applications.
This comes after a report by the police's Colonel Kobus Roelofse - which claimed there had been interference in the investigation of former crime-intelligence boss Richard Mdluli - was filed in court on Wednesday. It formed part of an application by Freedom Under Law to interdict Mdluli.
Roelofse claimed crime-intelligence finance head Major-General Solly Lazarus and others discussed paying Sunday Times journalists to publish a newspaper report that would cast doubt on those investigating them.
Hartley strongly denied the accusation, saying: "We are doing absolutely everything that we can to obtain the information which supposedly shows a corrupt relationship between our journalists and the police.
"If we do not obtain solid evidence of this from the police, we demand that they withdraw the insinuations," he said.
Hartley has also written to acting national police commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi and Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa with the same demand.
He said the application and the letters were submitted at the same time as it was a matter of urgency. "It would be nice if they could cut short the PAIA process and understand the urgency of the request. We are not sure that they take those allegations seriously as they are credited to an unnamed source who overheard a conversation. We take the allegations seriously," said Hartley.
According to Roelofse's report, an unnamed crime-intelligence officer, who the Sunday Times can identify as Dhanajay Naven Naidoo, went to Lazarus's house.
There, Naidoo is said to have heard Lazarus and officers Vivek Singh and Devendran Appalsamy Naidoo discussing the placement of a newspaper article relating to Hawks boss Lieutenant-General Anwa Dramat and his colleague, Major General Shadrack Sibiya.
The article, Roelofse claimed, was published in the Sunday Times on October 23, and Mdluli used it to make representations to the National Prosecuting Authority to cast suspicion on Dramat and his investigating team.
The article reported that members of the Hawks and the police, along with Zimbabwean police, were arresting Zimbabwean nationals in South Africa and illegally sending them to Zimbabwe, where some faced beatings or even death.
Mthethwa recently told parliament that the illegal rendition claims were part of an ongoing investigation.
Devendran Naidoo refused to comment. Lazarus did not answer his cellphone or respond to messages. Singh said: "We have to respect SAPS and I can't comment on something I am not aware of."
Roelofse's cellphone was answered by a man who identified himself as Colonel Burger. He referred queries to Hawks spokesman Colonel McIntosh Polela, as did Mkhwanazi's and Mthethwa's offices. Polela declined to comment, saying the allegations would eventually be tested in court .







Crimes of the South African Police Service


Is this for real?

Not confirmed cops shot miners Phiyega tells commission
Sapa | 17 April, 2013 12:58


Riah Phiyega faces the lawyers at the Marikana Commission in Rustenburg.
Image by: Simon Mathebula
It is unconfirmed that police officers shot dead 34 striking mineworkers in Marikana on August 16 last year, the Farlam Commission heard on Wednesday.
"I cannot say those 34 people were killed by the police... and to say who was shot by whom. I am not [in] a position to say," said national police commissioner Riah Phiyega.
Phiyega, who was under cross-examination at the commission's hearings in Rustenburg, requested that she not be asked questions she could not answer.
Dumisa Ntsebeza, for the families of the deceased miners, was questioning her.
A family member of one of the dead miners broke down and cried. She was removed from the auditorium.
Ntsebeza said he was trying to establish whether there was any consistency in the way Phiyega performed her duties.
He questioned her on why she had ordered the suspension of the Daveyton police officials implicated in the death of taxi driver Mido Macia.
Macia was dragged behind a police van in February. A video clip depicting the incident went viral.
Macia was later found dead in the cells of the local police station.
"Sufficient evidence was at my disposal [to warrant a suspension]," said Phiyega.
She told the commission that none of the police officers who were present during the fatal shooting of the 34 striking mineworkers had been suspended.
"We as the SA Police Service (Saps) have not charged anyone," said Phiyega.
Relatives of the mineworkers gasped at her statement.
Commission chairman retired judge Ian Farlam gave them a stern warning to stop disrupting proceedings with audible comments, or be removed.
Phiyega told the commission that if any charge were to be laid against police, it would come as an instruction from the Independent Police Investigative Directorate.
Earlier, Ntsebeza questioned Phiyega on whether she had done any courses linked to police management and administration.
Phiyega, who has qualifications in business administration and social work, told him that her qualifications allowed her to manage any department, whether it be private or public.
"My skills are portable," she said.
The commission is investigating the incidents that led to the deaths of 44 people during a wage-related strike at Lonmin's platinum mine in Marikana in August last year.





Crimes of the South African Police Service




120 Die in Police Custody


By ZWANGA MUKHUTHU on March 4, 2013 in

THE Eastern Cape recorded the third highest number of deaths of people in police custody in the country with 120 dying in police cells in 2011-12.

SAPS
A 2011-12 annual report by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) revealed a record 932 people died in police custody countrywide in the period with 120 of those dying in the Eastern Cape police cells.

KwaZulu-Natal police cells with 268 deaths leads the pack followed by Gauteng police cells with 217 deaths.

The report shows deaths in police custody have increased substantially in the past 10 years.
The conduct by South African Police Services is currently under the spotlight following the death last week of Mozambican taxi driver Mido Macia in Gauteng.

The 27-year-old man died in custody and eight policemen have since been arrested and are due to appear in court today .

The Ipid is also probing the death of an Eastern Cape policeman who died in police custody at the Barkly East police station earlier this year.

Sergeant Sibongile Xoli, who worked at the Barkly East police station, was found dead in a cell at the police station on January 25, a day after he was detained for allegedly being drunk.

While immediate action was taken against the Gauteng police accused of being involved in Macia’s death, the Eastern Cape Police, Prisons and Civil Rights Union (Popcru) said yesterday no action had been taken against those responsible for Xoli’s death.

Popcru’s provincial chairman Loyiso Mdingi said: “What we know is that the Ipid is investigating the case but to what extent we don’t know.

“ No one in the police station is facing consequences for the murder of this policeman.”
It is still unclear how Xoli died but according to Mdingi allegations are he was assaulted by other policemen before being locked up.

Provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General Celiwe Binta on Friday warned police officers against abusing their powers.

“You have the power to arrest and detain, in other words to take a person’s freedom away from them – this is a power never to be taken lightly or abused,” Binta said. —
zwangam@dispatch.co.za








Crimes of the South African Police Service


SAPS: shame of the nation
March 2 2013 at 09:18am
By Marianne Merten


SATURDAY STAR
Protesters outside the Daveyton police station voice their anger and re-enact the death of Mido Macia, a 27 year-old taxi driver from Mozambique, who was allegedly dragged behind a police vehicle. Picture: Paballo Thekiso
Johannesburg - Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa should not step down, the police ministry has said.
And national SAPS spokesman Brigadier Phuti Setati has failed to respond to questions about whether the national commissioner, General Riah Phiyega, will resign.
This follows the latest incident of police brutality, which has sent shockwaves around the globe – for the second week in a row South Africa’s poor policing has made world news.
With Mthethwa on honeymoon until March 12, State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele has been drafted in to manage the fallout from the horror video of Daveyton taxi driver Mido Macia being dragged behind a police van for upward of 500m, the subsequent alleged assault for two hours by police officers, and a further four hours in which he was denied medical attention – finally leaving the Mozambican dead.
Read more……

Crimes of the South African Police Service


EL sex workers protest cop abuse
By ZWANGA MUKHUTHU on March 9, 2013 in

EAST London sex workers are fed up with rough policemen who assault them and demanded sexual favours in broad daylight in a park near Eastern Beach.


RIGHT TO DIGNITY: Sex workers hit the streets in East London yesterday to protest abuse from SAPS members Picture: MARK ANDREWS
Sex workers say police arrest them for loitering, detain them without charging them and starve them for 18 hours in custody while denying them their rights to medication.
Other allegations include threats to lock them up with male prisoners, spraying them in the cells with water from a hosepipe and releasing them from the cells at 3am.
Yesterday, about 50 sex workers vented their anger by marching to the Fleet Street police station where they handed over a memorandum to the top brass at the station. They demand that police find new and “dignified” methods of policing prostitution. They also want police to develop a system where complaints by sex workers are taken seriously like complaints from any other citizen. They also want to be protected from the violence perpetrated against them by police, clients, human traffickers and gangsters.
Sex worker Soso Ben said she had been manhandled by an identifiable policeman who confiscated her condom, placed it on his middle finger and inserted it in her vagina saying he was searching for drugs.
Captain Mbulelo Pika, head of a crime prevention at Fleet Street, addressed the sex workers yesterday. He said: “Your concerns are very legitimate and we will undertake to address and resolve them speedily.”
Leigh-Ann van der Merwe, a sex worker representative, said she was happy with the outcome of the march, but hoped it was “not another exercise of window-dressing by police”. —
zwangam@dispatch.co.za



Crimes of the South African Police Service




Cops trade insults at hearing
22 Feb 2013 | Katlego Moeng Crime Reporter

"You are a police officer with five years experience, and you do not know that you are not supposed to drink when you are carrying your service pistol?


TENSIONS ran high at the Brakpan Magistrate's Court yesterday when a local detective in the SAPS appeared in connection with the murder of an Ekurhuleni metro police officer.
Siviwe Ndyoki, 28, of Tsakane is accused of shooting EMPD officer Popi Maseko on Sunday, February 10, while she was on duty. During the lunch break, officers from the two departments traded insults.
The families of Ndyoki and Maseko attended the proceedings, as did their [accused and deceased] colleagues, some in uniform.
Before the bail hearing began, all officers in attendance were instructed to hand in their firearms.
Ndyoki said he did not intend to kill anyone that day. He was off duty, and the incident happened at about 8pm, he told the court.
He said he was involved in a car accident, after which the metro police were called. He said the officers did breathalyser tests and told him he was drunk and that he should get into their car.
Ndyoki admitted to having drunk two pints of beer.
He said he sat behind the front passenger seat in the metro police vehicle. He said another man, a civilian, also got in and sat behind the driver's seat.
Ndyoki said he thought he was being driven to the police station but was surprised to see the female officer driving to Pholosong Hospital.
He said he started arguing with the male officer in the front passenger seat after he asked for R150, saying they would go back to the accident scene if he paid. He said during the argument, the male officer pointed a gun at him.
"I immediately drew my firearm, which already had a bullet in the chamber. The civilian grabbed my gun. I struggled with him and two shots went off."
He said he jumped out of the vehicle and ran, leaving the pistol with the civilian.
He said he then ran to a nearby house where he hid.
Magistrate Anita Snyman was not amused: "You are a police officer with five years experience, and you do not know that you are not supposed to drink when you are carrying your service pistol?
"You hide in someone's yard and you do not ask for assistance? You are a police officer but you run away from a scene?"
The hearing continues.




Crimes of the South African Police Service



Police ‘left assaulted colleague for dead’
By BONGANI FUZILE and ZWANGA MUKHUTHU on March 12, 2013 in News · 4 Comments
FOUR Eastern Cape officers may face jail time for murder.
 
SAPS
The provincial Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) has completed its investigation on the death of Barkly East police sergeant Sibongile Xoli.

This comes a week after nine Gauteng policemen were charged with the murder of Mozambican taxi driver Emido Macia.

Xoli, an officer at the Barkly East police station, was arrested on January 18, allegedly while drunk.
He was locked in a cell with three detainees and 17 hours later was found dead.

The Ipid report alleges Xoli was assaulted by a colleague, a warrant officer, who then left him for dead in the cells, and that three other senior policemen in the station acted improperly in handling the matter.

The police watchdog has now asked provincial police commissioner Lieutenant General Celiwe Binta to suspend the warrant officer and lay internal charges against the three other policemen.

The Ipid’s preliminary report suggests these officers lied under oath when they stated Xoli had committed suicide by hanging himself in the police cell.

It details unsuccessful attempts by the three detainees to get help while the sergeant lay on the cold cement bleeding and dying.

Hours before his death, Xoli’s commander went in search of him at the Nkululeko township after he failed to report for duty. The commander allegedly found Xoli drunk and arrested him.
“When Xoli came into the police station he was walking but he was carried to the cells after he was assaulted and he collapsed in the passage.

“The assault left him with multiple soft tissue injuries and head injuries which lead to internal bleeding into his brain subsequently leading to his death,” read the Ipid report.
The report states Xoli died of internal and external injuries that were not recorded by police.

During its month-long inquiry, the Ipid spoke to 14 witnesses including police officers and inmates .

Ipid’s Tiyani Sambo said the report was handed to the office of the provincial commissioner .
“We have not yet received formal correspondence from the SAPS ,” Sambo said.

The Police Prison and Civil Rights Union (Popcru) is livid.

Xolani Vava, the Popcru chairman in Ukhahlamba, said heads must roll.

“We have seen the report. It is a painful story of how this member was killed and other officers failed to act and rush him to hospital.

“It says the members lied, saying he hanged himself, but the detainees whom he was locked up with say he died on the floor, complaining of a headache and breathing heavily ,” said Vava. —











Crimes of the South African Police Service


Locked up after refusing to bribe metro cops
Aarti J Narsee | 18 March, 2013 13:54



Image by: Reuben Goldberg
A courier wants to take legal action against police who locked him up for two days over an irregularity with his vehicle license disc.
Mohale Joseph Gama describes the two nights he spent in a holding cell at Alberton Police station as the most horrible experience of his life.
The 34-year-old was stopped by the Ekurhuleni Metro Police while driving near Swartkoppies offramp last month.
Gama said the two policemen accused him of having a fraudulent licence disc because it described his vehicle as a “station wagon” rather than a panel van.
“The two policemen said they would arrest me if I did not give them a bribe of R500,” said Gama, but he refused.
Although Gama is a South African citizen, living in Diepsloot, the policemen insisted he was a Nigerian and accused him of not being the vehicle’s owner. He was taken to Brackendowns police station, but was later transferred to the Alberton police station. His vehicle was impounded
Gama said the Metro policemen told the station officers not to release him, and to only charge him at the end of the weekend.
“I was told about my rights but they didn’t let me make my one phone call and my cellphone was taken away,” said Gama.
He said he feared for his life in the holding cell.
“There were nine people inside in possession of knives, cell phones and dagga. I was scared.”
Gama managed to contact his fiancée after borrowing a cellphone from someone in the holding cell. But when his fiancé and brother came to the station, they were told he would not be released.
He was eventually released on the Saturday after being told by one of the officers that the only way he would be released was to paying a R500 admission of guilt fine.
His vehicle was only released to him a week later, which he said caused him to lose out on business. Furthermore, he said he was missing a large sum of money from the vehicle, R6 700, which he had been going to deposit for SARS prior to his arrest.
Warrant Officer Janet Makhubela, at Brackendowns police station, said the case, which was subsequently withdrawn, was recorded as fraud, as the vehicle’s license disc did not correspond with licensing department records.
The Automobile Association’s Gary Ronald said there should be no penalty for incorrect vehicle description as it is mostly an administrative issue.
“Under normal circumstances, a notice of discontinuation will be issued to the driver; ... the vehicle will be taken to the testing ground for inspection to verify what make it is.”
However, if there is a fraudulent transmission on a license disc, Ronald said the matter would have to go to court and no admission of guilt fine could be paid.
Makhubela said, “The public have a right to launch a formal complaint if they feel that they have been dealt with unfairly by the police”.
Earlier this month, Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa instructed national commissioner Riah Phiyega to act urgently to "avert and reduce" lawsuits.
A total of 5090 civil claims were dealt with by SAPS during 2011/12. The legal costs of cases paid to state and private attorneys amounted to some R135 million.
Gama is taking legal advice and plans to take action against the alleged solicitation of a bribe by the Metro police, for unlawful arrest and alleged theft of his money.
“This experience has affected me. People think I am a criminal. My name has been corrupted,” he said. 
* The public can report solicitation of bribes to: JMPD Anti-Corruption line 0800 203 712
JMPD Internal Affairs 011 490 1703


Crimes of the South African Police Service


SAPS gun records in shambles
August 6 2012 at 01:55pm
By Yogas Nair



INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERS
Stock picture: Antoine de Ras
KwaZulu-Natal - Hundreds of guns from police station exhibit rooms across KwaZulu-Natal are missing or unaccounted for because of poor record keeping, an audit has found.
The preliminary findings of the check have prompted provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General Mmamonnye Ngobeni to put a task team in place to monitor the 184 stations in KZN to ensure their gun files are in order.
Sources claim that at some stations more than 100 guns are reported missing or unaccounted for from the exhibit rooms, which are referred to as SAP 13.
Guns that are seized from unlicensed owners, used to commit crimes and those stolen and recovered, are kept in the SAP 13.
At Berea police station, it is understood that more than 80 firearms cannot be accounted for; about 100 are believed to be missing from Greenwood Park and Umbumbulu; and 50 from uMlazi.
KZN police spokesman Colonel Jay Naicker said processes were under way to follow the paper trail of these guns.
Rudolph Zinn, a lecturer at the the School of Criminal Justice and Police Practice at Unisa, said whether the guns were missing or unaccounted for, was of serious concern.
“The police standing orders are very clear on the SAP 13. All guns must be kept in a gun safe,” Zinn said.
“The SAP 13 is the direct responsibility of the station commander. He or she must have a proper record of all items in the exhibit room. A paper trail is vital, especially for exhibits that are used in court.
“If an exhibit is presented as evidence in court, the investigating officer has to show who received it, when it went for ballistics, when it was returned to the station, and so on. If the paper trail is not in order, the exhibit cannot be admissible as evidence.”
Zinn said if a single gun had been used to commit multiple serious and violent crimes, and there was no proper record keeping, it could spell disaster for the case.
He said the standing orders also prescribed that station commanders conduct an inspection of the SAP 13 Register, at least once a month.
“It is clear someone has not been doing their job.
“If the record registers were in order, the audit would have come up clean,” Zinn said. Naicker said the provincial police inspectorate was regularly tasked with carrying out inspections at stations, including the SAP 13.
He said each station was duty-bound to safeguard all guns handed in as exhibits.
“Files are kept of all firearms in police custody. When an inspection is carried out, and a firearm is not physically at the station, the inspectorate department will inspect its file,” he said.
“If proper record keeping is in place, the file will indicate if the firearm was sent to ballistics/forensics, destroyed by the SAPS or handed back to the lawful owner.
“In many cases, however, the relevant supporting documents are not filed in the guns file, therefore inspecting officers cannot confirm how the gun was disposed of,” Naicker said.
He said as a formality a docket was opened for the loss of these guns and the station was given time to finalise the administration of files.
Clarity on whether guns were actually missing could only be determined once the administration process was finalised.
But, once an audit was completed and clarity still could not be obtained to indicate how a gun was disposed of, then the member who was responsible for the safeguarding of that gun would be charged – criminally and departmentally, said Naicker.
He said while the findings of the audit were being viewed in a very serious light, they had no doubt that poor administrative processes were to blame for the missing guns.
“We are convinced that these firearms were properly disposed off,” he said.
“We are also following the paper trail, together with the computerised firearm system. This will also give us an indication as to how these firearms were disposed off.”
Ngobeni, said station commanders were ultimately responsible.
“While we are convinced that ultimately these stations will be able to account for the disposal of these firearms, heads must roll for the poor record keeping,” she said.
“The buck stops at the station commander’s desk.”
Ngobeni said that in some instances, disciplinary steps had already been taken against certain individuals for dereliction of duties.
“We will ensure that with regular auditing the administration processes with regards to these firearms will never be neglected in future.” - Daily News



Crimes of the South African Police Service



NPA queries legal bills for 28 officers
06 Feb 2013
Sapa

DURBAN — The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) will ask the police to reach a decision on paying the legal bills of 28 officers who face a string of charges, ranging from murder to racketeering.

This emerged during yesterday’s brief Durban high court appearance of the 28 members of the Cato Manor branch of the now disbanded Durban Organised Crime Unit.

It had been expected that a trial date would be set, but prosecutor Sello Maema told the court an adjournment was needed for the “finalisation of the issue of legal representation”.

The 28 officers — accused of operating as death squad from the Cato Manor police station in Durban — face more than 70 charges, including racketeering, murder, and attempted murder.

They allegedly operated as an enterprise under KwaZulu-Natal Hawks boss Johan Booysen’s command, and allegedly obtained financial benefit from associations, businesses and individuals in conflict with the people the officers are accused of killing.

Sello said the state needed to finalise the disclosure of documents to their lawyers. The case was postponed to May 9.

National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Natasha Ramkisson said that after the appearance the men had applied to the South African Police Service (SAPS) for legal assistance.

“It’s not that the NPA is going to help these men get assistance.

“They have applied to the management [of SAPS] and the NPA will ask that a decision is made either way, so that this case can proceed,” she said.

The policemen were arrested during August and June last year.

They were served with suspension notices at the end of August, pending disciplinary procedures. They were ordered to surrender their passports and their police cellphone pin codes to investigators.

Originally, 30 officers were arrested last year, but two of the officers, captains Vincent Auerbach and Neville Eva, had since died.

http://www.witness.co.za/index.php?showcontent&global[_id]=95205