One Gauteng newspaper put it best when its billboards read ”New Year in Hellbrow”. It was not a spelling mistake but a clever pun referring to the lawlessness that happens in the Johannesburg inner-city suburb of Hillbrow.
Reports emanating from that hell-hole — which has become a den of evil, a haven of pimps, prostitutes, junkies and drug dealers — seem to suggest that news of an impending Armageddon were greatly exaggerated.
As the old year was put to bed things changed in Hillbrow, ushering in new hope for the sometimes hopeless slum.
After years of rolling in army trucks and heavily-armed police to try and prevent the tradition of throwing old fridges and other heavy household items from high-rise buildings — without much success on the part of the law enforcers — it was time for some quiet diplomacy. And it worked.
Police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi showed leadership when he proved that enforcing the law need not be a synonym for jackboot tactics.
On December 30 Selebi met with Hillbrow citizens and conveyed his expectations for the celebrations that would herald the beginning of the new year.
Like the school teacher he once was Selebi lectured communities on why there was no logical reason to throw objects, which could possible injure others, in the name of happiness because 2004 had begun.
He told them that those who did not heed his call would be forced to clean up their mess.
When New Year’s eve arrived most people heeded Selebi’s call, but true to the occasion some individuals threw household items from their balconies.
Selebi saw this, ordered his foot soldiers to cordon off the respective buildings and residents from those buildings were ordered to come downstairs and clean up their mess. It was unprecedented in the history of South African law enforcement that brooms were preferred to handcuffs or guns.
There are few lessons to be learned from this episode, the most obvious being that throwing objects from balconies is something that should be frowned upon by decent people.
Another lesson for law enforcement is that visible policing can be even more successful when coupled with practical ”community policing”. As Selebi proved, speaking to communities and getting them to listen to the message that lawlessness would not be tolerated, can produce results.
The clear message to communities is that they will have to pay a price for their indifference to the lawlessness that takes place on their doorsteps.
For a xenophobic country such as ours I wonder how the many foreigners, who also live in the area, must have felt when they engaged with a policeperson who did not ask them for their papers. Hopefully it sent out a message that South Africa has finally been cured of its fixation with influx control.
But most importantly, Selebi’s example could go a long way to reducing the number of people in jail for relatively minor offences.
Throwing a fridge from a balcony is not exactly kosher, but in an area like Hillbrow police have more pressing concerns than waiting around for whatever the heavens may toss at them.
Members of the Law Society of South Africa recently visited Pollsmoor prison and returned with the all-too-familiar complaint that it was crowded with prisoners who had to wait for many months before going on trial for minor offences.
Many of these prisoners, especially juveniles, are sexually and physically abused while in jail. On their release the anger and antipathy they feel for society, which they believe does not care about them, makes them walking time bombs.
Call it optimism, but a peaceful Hillbrow and a police boss who believes that people can unlearn their wayward ways without having to sit in a courtroom dock, bodes well for the year ahead.