The South African Police Service’s controversial handling of violent protests in Diepsloot has raised questions about the police’s ability to manage the crowds expected at the World Cup.
Police used more than 1 000 rounds of rubber bullets, in some cases at close range, to disperse an angry crowd in Diepsloot, north of Johannesburg, the Star reported on Monday. Residents went on the rampage following rumours that they were to be moved to Brits in the North West province.
The Mail & Guardian reported last year that police struggled to control xenophobic violence across the country after the specialised crime combating units (CCUs) tasked with public-order duties were halved in the 2006 SAPS restructuring.
At the time Bilkis Omar of the Institute for Security Studies ascribed inept police action to low morale and inadequate in-service training in crowd management techniques in a democratic country.
”Since the attacks, and with the realisation that the CCUs are not able to perform optimally with minimal capacity, members in some provinces have been recalled to the units to take up public-order duties,” Omar told the M&G.
For the 2010 World Cup the police have trained 2 500 members in French-style crowd management, she said — ”a more intensive approach taking into account human rights”. A further 10 000 are still to be trained.
But this target, Omar believes, will not be met: ”Station members are never available when called up for training because of station commitments or because station commissioners are reluctant to release them. In-service training that is supposed to be done on a continual basis at stations … is not being done.”
Omar said the police action in Diepsloot highlights the importance of training ordinary police station members in crowd management. The country now has 27 units comprising 3Â 306 police members with crowd management capabilities and this number is expected to increase to 5 661 by year-end, he said. This contrasts with 23 units comprising 2 595 members after the 2006 restructuring.
”The xenophobic incidents last year made the SAPS realise the urgency and necessity of having a fully resourced CCU capacity,” said Omar.
SAPS director Phuti Setati did not respond to the M&G’s queries by the time of going to press.