Mail &Guardian reporter
Minister of Safety and Security Steve Tshwete has not shied away from tough talk that militates against a human rights culture in the police.
Policing experts say the restraint promoted by former minister of safety and security, Sydney Mufamadi, has been replaced by Tshwete’s more gung ho approach to his portfolio.
Some of the minister’s more striking public statements are: l At Jabulani Amphitheatre in July 1999, Tshwete told a gathering of police he aimed to “unleash the bulldog”. “We are going to deal with criminals as a bulldog deals with a bull. We are going to give them hell because they are giving our people hell… I have explained to them that when we visit criminals we will not treat them with kid gloves. We are going to make them feel like cowboys should not cry. Those who raise the dust must not complain that they cannot see. We will unleash the police force on them.”
l In 1999 Tshwete also said “criminals are animals” and “we must show them no mercy”. In the same breath the minister proposed loosening up legislation under which police may use lethal weapons on suspects. l In September this year, Tshwete hinted the police could ignore the Constitution in their pursuit of criminals. “Criminals must know the South African state possesses the authority, moral and political, to ensure by all means, constitutional or unconstitutional, that the people of this country are not deprived of their human rights.” He added that criminals had relegated their own status to that of sub- humans, so that when they are dealt with “we will have to keep that at the back of our minds”.