Rise in police
brutality alarming
February 19 2014 at 03:45pm
By Kieran Legg
By Kieran Legg
Independent Newspapers
File image
Cape Town - Accused of
attacking residents in Ficksburg and surrounding townships in Pretoria, the
so-called “Rambo Squad” – 16 constables arrested this year – are the tip of the
iceberg when it comes to police brutality.
So says Institute of Race Relations
researcher KerwinLebone, who adds that three of every five cases reported to
the Independent Police Investigative Directorate during the 2012/13 financial
year were linked to torture or assault by officers.
“The directorate received just over 6
700 complaints and notifications against members of the SAPS in 2012/13,”
Lebone said.
“Some 4 180 of these involved torture
and assaults of suspects and other people by members of the force.”
These figures were obtained from the
directorate’s latest annual report.
Last month in Benoni, two constables
were arrested after victims alleged they had kidnapped and tortured a Nigerian
man by placing a plastic bag over his head.
Lebone said this was often the result
of pressure to meet organisational targets. Police brutality could also stem from
poor training and lack of discipline within the force. The directorate made 1
044 disciplinary recommendations in the past financial year.
But police department spokesman
ZweliMnisi challenged this, saying the number of cases reported to the directorate
was proof the new system was working.He said the abuse of power that often came
with a position of authority was not unique to South Africa, and many countries
had structures such as the directorate to “police the police”.
He was confident the “bad apples” would
be rooted out through the directorate.
Johan Burger, a senior researcher at
the Institute for Security Studies, said rising police brutality might be
linked to the use of aggressive language. He pointed out that over the past
decade, criminal cases against the police had rocketed by more than 360 percent
from 531 cases in 2001/2 to 2 493 in 2010/11.
He claimed those years had been
characterised by fighting words from the force’s top executives calling for a
change of attitude from its officers.
“We just have toolook at some of the
speeches,” he said. “For example the police minister’s speech in 2010 called
for a change of attitude and referred to police work as a ‘war’ against crime.”
Directorate spokesman Moses Dlamini
said he could not comment on any potential systemic issues within the police
force because it was impossible to narrow down any of the thousands of cases to
one specific issue.
kieran.legg@inl.co.za
Cape Argus
