Police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi moved swiftly on Friday in a meeting with editors to revoke instructions that police information to the media be restricted to only provincial channels.
”Whatever it was, that is revoked,” he said at the meeting with a South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) delegation in Pretoria.
The meeting followed reports and apparent confusion around police restructuring, resulting in area-level liaison officials being removed and leaving a single provincial spokesperson the only official source of communication.
Selebi set out in detail to the editors the services planned to decentralise and devolve police media communication right down to the level of every one of the 1 136 stations in the country.
The police have identified a weakness in their communications processes and want to strengthen communication with the public through the media.
”But this will take some time … we don’t have enough trained communicators to have somebody at each police station yet.”
In the meantime, the plan is for police stations to be grouped in ”clusters”, which will have a media communicator.
In a demonstration of his determination to clear up the confusion between the media and police over communications, Selebi promised that a detailed list of police spokesperson will be forwarded to media on Friday.
The Sanef delegation, led by deputy chairperson and Sowetan editor Thabo Leshilo, responded that it was good that the confusion had been cleared up.
”We look forward to the restructuring facilitating a better flow of information through the media to the public,” he said.
Sanef undertook as well to support the police in this and will actively help with training communicators.
‘Outrageous pattern of censorship’
Sanef had on Wednesday warned that the move to centralise police communication departments would erode public confidence in the police even further.
”It is essential for public confidence and for public information that news of crime is quickly and accurately disseminated. This is as true for the reporting of acts of crime as it is for the quick and accurate reportage of effective crime prevention,” it said.
Gauteng police on Wednesday told media organisations not to make direct contact with police stations following the newly introduced police-centralisation process.
”There will be no comments to media enquiries from any member of the service in the province … Do not attempt to make direct contact at police stations because only official spokespersons at provincial head office will deal with the media,” Director Govindsamy Mariemuthoo said in a statement on Wednesday.
The centralisation process was said to be part of an ”outrageous pattern of [media] censorship” by the Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa).
It was reported that, in effect, the restructuring would remove area media-liaison officers within the police who previously facilitated the speedy dissemination of information on crime.
”This latest move to limit the flow of police information to the public follows the outrageous pattern of censorship … and shows how fast the government is creating an information-starved state, which is totally opposed to the democratic principles it purports to uphold,” said deputy chairperson of the South African branch of Misa, Raymond Louw. — Sapa