A newly released 300-page report on policing in South Africa has shed new light on the strengths and weaknesses of the South African Police Service (SAPS), highlighting, among other things, racially skewed service provision, uneven responses to crime and the lack of internal police corruption-busting mechanisms.
The report also raises questions about the impact of employment equity on police management. It notes concerns about police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi’s alleged links with syndicate crime, but highlights the enormous strides the SAPS has made in bolstering democracy since 1994. It says the force has transformed itself from the repressive arm of the apartheid state into one that supports democratic processes, such as elections.
The Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation’s (CSVR) 270-page report, In Service of the People’s Democracy: An Assessment of the South African Police Service, was to be released on May 18. It is based on documents and interviews with police; officials involved in policing, police oversight and government departments; and research bodies.
The report benchmarks the performance of the SAPS in a democratic context, using a CSVR handbook on police oversight that identifies five key areas and 39 measures:
Protecting democratic political life
The police must be non-partisan and protect democratic political processes, such as elections, and activities such as assemblies and demonstrations
The report finds the police have largely overcome their apartheid-era reputation for brutally cracking down on demonstrators; have protected national and local elections; have given priority to rooting out partisan policing in KwaZulu-Natal; and have effectively policed violent political movements such as the Boeremag.
Clashes with community groups, social movements and unions highlight ongoing concerns about crowd control, particularly problems associated with excessive force by station police who are not trained in public order policing responding to spontaneous protest. Social movements have complained of police abuse and torture.
Governance, accountability and transparency
The police must account to oversight bodies, demonstrate transparent financial management, record information reliably, hold individual members accountable and control covert activities
The report finds that the downgrading of the secretariat for safety and security in the late 1990s has undermined police oversight, and that a weak secretariat has made the safety and security minister excessively reliant on the SAPS for policy direction.
The police comply reasonably well with the duty to report to Parliament and cooperate with other state structures, respect the authority of the courts and generally receive unqualified audit reports.
The CSVR accepts that the reporting of crime statistics may follow international practice, but says more frequent reporting would boost cooperative crime fighting. It also finds the SAPS could cooperate more with the Scorpions and the Independent Complaints Directorate.
Service delivery for safety, security and justice
This covers activities commonly understood as policing, such as reducing crime, responding to emergency calls, serving the public professionally and partnering other agencies in crime prevention
Service delivery tends to be uneven, reflecting victimisation surveys that find the public is almost evenly divided on police performance.
The report notes that over the past 15 years the SAPS has faced mounting demands from the ‘previously disadvantagedâ€, ‘previously advantaged†and recent immigrant communities. But servicing of the public still tends to follow an apartheid logic, with race and ethnicity determining quality.
The SAPS has failed to devise strategic approaches to specific forms of crime, tending to put pressure on senior management to reduce them.
Proper police conduct
Police must uphold the rule of law in performing their functions and ensure systems to receive and investigate complaints against officers. The police must ensure policies exist to support the use of minimum force and to care for people in custody
The report identifies serious problems in the use of lethal force, torture and police corruption, especially the consistent abuse of black foreigners. Selebi’s alleged links to organised crime are also of concern. Such factors undermine respect for the rule of law and crime fighting.
The police have tried to improve their disciplinary framework, but lack systems to address members’ conduct after closing the anti- corruption unit.
Systems for monitoring the use of force have declined and the number of people killed by police has increased dramatically.
The number of escapes from custody has fallen, but torture and deaths while in custody continue.
Police as citizens
Police members are entitled to reasonable conditions of service, pay and benefits, to organise and to be free of discrimination in processes such as recruitment, except to ensure the police service is demographically representative
Conditions of service are relatively good, and rights to organise and due process are upheld.
Police suicides and the trauma of police work have been seriously addressed, although access to in-house service needs improving.
The report says employment equity may be negatively affecting the SAPS and that recruitment policies that work against whites may unfairly skew the racial composition of the force in future. Promotions in line with the representation of racial groups may violate policy and exacerbate management inconsistencies.
The number of women in the SAPS has increased, but they tend to be concentrated in administrative positions.
Got to www.csvr.org.za/res/pubsnew.htm for the full report