A government promise to beef up the security forces in KwaZulu/Natal is ringing hollow, writes Ann Eveleth
SAFETY and Security Minister Sydney Mufamadi’s violence crackdown two weeks ago appears so far to have been little more than a publicity stunt. Despite a climbing death toll in KwaZulu/Natal, no extra troops or police have been deployed in the province since the announcement.
Nor has there been any increased security force presence since a similar announcement was issued by President Nelson Mandela almost three months ago. With at least 40 deaths from political violence reported in the province so far this month, including 12 since Friday on the South Coast, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has given the government two weeks to take action before declaring a stayaway in the province.
Cosatu KwaZulu/Natal (southern) secretary Paulos Ngcobo this week called on the government to stamp out violence in the province by declaring nine flashpoints as “unrest areas” or by declaring a state of emergency in the province. The areas are Mtubatuba, Mandini, the entire South Coast, Bulwer, Loskop, Umlazi, Bhambayi, Inanda and the Durban hostels.
“We can’t accept any excuses from this government now. They have been in power for over a year and we want to see some changes,” said Ngcobo.
KwaZulu/Natal Command representative Captain Kim Van Niekerk said the South African National Defence Force had been operating with the same numbers in the province “since May of last year. We’re on our normal troop deployment. So far we’ve been able to cope with the nine identified flashpoints. If a 10th or 11th flashpoint is identified, we may need to consider more deployments,” he said.
Van Niekerk said there are approximately 1 100 troops in the province, comprising just over seven companies of about 120 soldiers each plus medical and other support personnel.
South African Police Services (SAPS) KwaZulu/Natal spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Bala Naidoo confirmed there had been no extra deployment of police in the province since the announced crackdown, pointing to staff shortages as a major problem: “The question now is where do you get them?” he asked.
Naidoo said the SAPS relied largely “on reactive policing”, adding that the Community Safety Plan targeting flashpoints had been adopted to overcome this problem.
But Ngcobo said this represented little more than “borrowing from Peter to pay Paul” in the province, adding that staff shortages was just another excuse used by the national ministry: “Why can’t you borrow them from another province until things quiet down here?” KwaZulu/Natal Police Reporting Officer Advocate Neville Melville agreed, saying “The Human Rights Commission says 75 percent of political violence in the country is here. It seems strange if this is where the fire is that we can’t have vast increases here until we put it out.”
Ngcobo said another problem Cosatu faced was that “the police tell us they can’t get access to certain areas without the consent of the magistrate. But the April 1 announcement integrated the forces. We no longer have a KwaZulu, so we can’t accept these excuses anymore. The only option is for the President to declare unrest areas or a state of emergency,” he said.
Naidoo verified the SAPS and KwaZulu Police would still be operating in their own areas of jurisdiction — with the exception of the SAPS Internal Stability Unit (ISU) which does go into “KZP areas” — until the new Police Act is promulgated later this year. Natal violence monitor Mary de Haas said the ISUs were often part of the problem: “The Durban ISU is OK, but the ISUs on the South Coast and in Mtubatuba are a danger to the security of those
Human Rights Committee (HRC) Durban representative Linda Mclean also rejected the jurisdiction claim: “The SAPS have always had full jurisdiction everywhere in South Africa, including the homelands … It’s just an excuse they have used to allow the violence to continue,” she said.
McLean stressed that the HRC could never support the declaration of unrest areas or emergency declarations because “we feel other legislation can be used to give the security forces greater powers”.
McLean agreed the security crackdown had been barely visible, with the exception of “the quick response to the Sundumbili violence and the show of force at the ANC rally in Taylors Halt” two weeks ago.
While welcoming the deployment of the Durban Unrest and Violent Crime Unit in the Sundumbili/Mandini area, McLean said: “That should’ve been done months ago.” She added that extra deployments of troops and police were needed “to create space for a political solution”.
De Haas seconded the call for greater deployments but pointed out that “the army has been in Mandini for weeks now, and that didn’t stop the killings”.
De Haas said the deployments were only an “interim measure”, as “the only way to deal with this violence is through the criminal justice system. The problem is a dearth of good, non-partisan detectives. Most of the detectives have been here too long and are too much part of the problem. I’d like to see overseas investigators involved”, De Haas added.
De Haas said in most cases people know who the killers are, but won’t come forward if they fear their names will be handed over to the perpetrators.
Self-confessed KwaZulu Police hit-squad killer Gcina Mkhize told the Durban Supreme Court earlier this year that statements he made to acting Pietermaritzburg Area Commissioner Brigadier Eric du Preez were handed over to the Inkatha Freedom Party. Judge van der Reyden ordered the Investigation Task Unit to investigate the claim.
But Cosatu’s Ngcobo said the days of commissions of inquiry in South Africa had borne little result and asked: “Why can’t you take people from the army and make them detectives if you don’t know what to do with them?” Melville said his experience was that detectives “don’t seem to have the necessary skills to investigate properly. Good investigators are few and far between and they’re overstretched. You can’t handle 20 dockets at a time”.
Melville said it might help to have detectives from other provinces deployed here, since, “When I talk to my colleagues from other provinces, they only have a few cases trickling in.” Melville said there was also a need for public education about the justice system, so that witnesses would know how to give good evidence that will stand up in court.
“Part of the problem is the abysmally low prosecution rate. If you stand trial in Durban, you have a 60 percent chance of getting off,” he said.
McLean said she felt there were “serious problems with the judicial system” including the ease with which perpetrators are granted bail and the way the Attorney-General’s office operates: “He just looks at a docket and decides whether to prosecute or not, but doesn’t have to give a reason. If he says no, the docket doesn’t go back to the investigator for further evidence. There needs to be more co-operation between the A-G and the detectives.” De Haas said the justice system was “grossly inefficient”, adding that “about a dozen arrests in this region will cut down on violence dramatically”.