Marianne Merten
More than 200 people have heeded a Western Cape African National Congress call for members of the public to join the police reservists.
Bright yellow posters calling for volunteers went up throughout Cape Town recently after the party pledged to National Commissioner George Fivaz that it would recruit 500 new volunteers by April 1. “Make Operation Good Hope work,” the posters proclaim. “Join the police reservists.”
The party has instructed its entire provincial leadership to sign up as reservists and asked the leaders of its alliance partners, the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party, to join as well.
The ANC’s anti-crime campaign co-ordinator, Shaun Byneveld, proudly said he was one of the volunteers who represent “a broad range of people”.
Although some observers have slated the initiative as a Johnny-come-lately attempt at political opportunism, Byneveld said it was genuine. “Our people must be active in the fight against crime. We must participate in this civic activity.”
The call for civic duty coincided with the start of the police campaign to fight the ongoing Cape Flats violence, after it spilled into the traditional “white” areas of the Mother City.
“Our role is to mobilise the community. People must begin to understand there’s a legal outlet if they want to be active in the fight against crime,” Byneveld said.
“We are very mindful that the police’s credibility is at an all-time low. If the police were to make the call [for police reservists], this may not deliver the response.”
The ANC sprang into action after Deputy President Thabo Mbeki announced at the party’s 87th birthday celebrations in January that the government would not tolerate anti- drug vigilantes taking the law into their own hands. The ANC sent an appeal for “unity in the face of terror” to all political parties in the Western Cape.
Byneveld dismissed speculation that the ANC had undertaken to train extra police, saying that still would remain the job of the South African Police Services.
An ANC official was deployed to take details from volunteers on a phone line the party had advertised for volunteers to use.
Byneveld said the next step would be a forum in which all volunteers would be briefed on what it meant to be a police reservist . Their names would then be passed on to the Operation Good Hope chief, Assistant Commissioner Ganief Daniels.
Security in Cape Town was tightened this week after the arrival of the vice-president of the United States, Al Gore.
Since the police arrested two batches of suspects in connection with the recent bombing spree in the city, there have been no new blasts. But the police suspect the men they arrested were plotting to place a bomb near Parliament and are taking no chances with Gore’s safety.