Several publications on Tuesday expressed fears that the current restructuring of the South African Police Service (SAPS) will severely limit the media’s ability to access information.
Up until the restructuring started, media outlets approached designated police officers at area level. However, with the elimination of the area level, media organisations have been told to contact designated officers at a provincial level.
Regi Khumalo, news editor of the Witness newspaper in Pietermaritzburg, said his newspaper had had ”no official confirmation” of the restructuring or clarity on how it would affect the media’s ability to access information.
”Indications are that things are going to be centralised. With 183 police stations in the province and 45 in the Midlands alone, how are they [at a provincial level] going to cope?
”My fear is that they are going to be more reactive than proactive. Already there is a ban on crime statistics. My greatest fear is that this will lead to a media blackout. It will add to our ignorance of what is really happening in our backyard. The worry is that this is going to make it difficult for us to access information, by hampering our watchdog mandate.”
David Canning, the editor of the Mercury newspaper in Durban, said: ”I’m quite worried about it … that it might be more difficult to get information.
”Nobody’s informed us. Maybe they’ll eventually tell us about it.”
Editor-in-chief of the Sowetan newspaper and Sunday World, Thabo Leshilo, said he was concerned that the ”timeousness” with which journalists could obtain information would be problematic.
”It is worth monitoring how this [restructuring] will affect the free flow of information,” he said.
However, one news editor said that in the Western Cape all police communication to the media had already been centralised at a provincial level for more than two years.
Edwin Lombard, news editor on Die Burger and formerly a news editor at Die Son, said: ”The communities are calling the newspapers before they call the cops.”
He said he believed that the quality of crime reporting and the communication between communities and newspapers had improved as a result of the police’s action to centralise and limit information in the Western Cape.
SAPS communications officers themselves expressed dissatisfaction with the way the restructuring of their positions had been handled.
”We don’t know what to tell our local people with whom we have built up relationships,” said one, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
”If you hear of anything please tell me so I can tell our local people,” he added.
”There is no communications here,” said another, who also spoke on condition of anonymity.
A Gauteng crime reporter who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: ”Information is being centralised. It’s very frustrating. We’re going to run stuff without official police comment if we need to.”
”You can’t get hold of anybody. It’s upsetting. If there’s one person doing the whole province, I don’t know how this is going to work,” said a Durban reporter, who also spoke on condition of anonymity.
South African Police Union president Mpho Kwinika said the issue of how the media will be affected had never been discussed with the union.
More than 1 500 people are believed to be affected by the restructuring in KwaZulu-Natal, where area level officers will be dispatched to their new posts on Monday. — Sapa