Corruption, cover-ups and racism made rank and file kwaZulu Police force members go on strike, reports Farouk Chothia
BEHIND the recent kwa-Zulu Police strike is the desire of ordinary policemen to break free from the Inkatha Freedom Party and promote their careers by being professional policemen in a cleaned-up force.
At the centre of the row is deputy commissioner Major General Sipho Mathe, who wants the vacant post of commissioner of an amalgamated provincial police force, despite a Transitional Executive Council report on hit squads that accused him of “disgraceful conduct” and recommended his dismissal.
KZP policemen this week expressed strong resentment of Mathe and revealed severe morale problems in the force.
Protests started over a month ago in northern Natal — including Ulundi, Nongoma and Madadeni — and last week spread to Durban’s townships, including Umlazi, Umbumbulu and kwaMashu.
In the rural areas, protests centred on demands to be paid for over-time during elections but have since expanded to encompass complaints of racism, corruption and cover-ups within the force.
A violence monitor based at the University of Natal, Mary de Haas, said disgruntled KZP officers were divided into two factions: one loyal to Mathe, the other opposed to him.
Insiders suggested the anti-Mathe faction was further divided into sympathisers with the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) and the South African Police Union (Sapu). KZP policemen are expected to take part in a Sapu march in Durban tomorrow.
De Haas said “Popcru-type” policemen started the strike but it was “hijacked” by the pro-Mathe faction which wants to avoid criticism against the general.
Sources said Mathe had been more powerful than the commissioner, Lieutenant General Roy During, who went on leave last week pending his retirement next month. Mathe is acting commissioner.
Insiders said that in talks with protesting policemen, Mathe blamed During for the problems. “As a result, Mathe is coming out clean,” said one source.
Sources said as last week’s strike focused largely on “racist” white policemen, Mathe’s chances of becoming commissioner of the new kwaZulu/Natal force had improved.
He is one of a handful of black generals in the country — and is said to have the support of the provincial minister of safety and security, Celani Mtetwa.
Among other police officers bidding for the new commissioner’s job are SAPS regional commissioner Lieutenant General Colin Steyn — a favourite among many Sapu members, sources said.
Insiders said many policemen feared Mathe as he has built a strong “informer network” for himself around the KZP’s Bureau of Security and Intelligence.
They said Mathe had also built a support base among “special constables” — who have been made permanent policemen although they do not have the necessary qualifications.
Policemen denied that most of the force members were loyal to the IFP.
“It is the ‘special constables-type’ that gives the police force such an image. Most of us want to be professional policemen serving our communities — after all, that is where we live,” said one source.
They also find IFP supporters accusing them of being pro-ANC simply because they work with the party in community forums.
They said in the pre-election period, a senior IFP leader in Umlazi complained that the head of KZP’s community relations department in the township, Warrant Officer Job Ntshangase, was pro-ANC. Ulundi ordered that Ntshangase be transferred to rural Nqutu.
He resisted the move and has now emerged as a key figure in protests in Umlazi. Ntshangase denied he was an ANC supporter.
Insiders said policemen were airing their grievances because they had Sapu’s backing and they wanted to secure their futures in an amalgated kwaZulu/Natal force. The rise of the ANC’s Sydney Mufamadi to the post of safety and security minister appears to have also given the policemen confidence.
Ntshangase called on Mufamadi to appoint a commission to investigate the KZP. Sources said if such an investigation was conducted damning evidence would be found against top policemen. Allegations in KZP ranks were that weapons went missing from the quartermaster’s offices at several police stations in the pre-election period. Areas affected include Umlazi and Nqutu.
The grievances listed by Umlazi policemen centred on money and the promotion of white officers ahead of blacks.
Sapu also called for the removal of the district commissioner, Brigadier A Burger, from Umlazi because he “seriously lacks management skills” and had refused to address grievances. Ntshangase said Burger was to be replaced after agreement last week between protesting policemen and Mathe.
* Sundumbili station commander Major Owen Zuma was still at his post on Tuesday despite being suspended last week after the attorney general decided to prosecute him for allegedly defeating the ends of justice.
Zuma said Mufamadi had neither informed him of the allegations against him nor of the decision to suspend him. He said that after the intervention of Ulundi-based white officers a docket against white policemen and members of the Internal Stability Unit was “closed”.