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TOWARDS the end of last week, police in the Ekurhuleni township of Daveyton took to the streets and found a taxi driver they thought had broken the law and – in an outburst of shared stupidity - dragged him from a police van for a couple of metres before taking him to a police station cell, where he was later found dead.
What ignited this police behaviour is nothing else but a secret at this stage. However, whatever it was, it was not frustration caused by lack, hostility or misery. That would be crafting reasons for bad police behaviour.
The alleged brutal killing of this young Mozambican national, Mido Macia, has turned the spotlight on how badly some police treat South African citizens.
On August 16 last year, 34 striking miners at the platinum mine in Marikana were shot dead as they were demanding a salary increase from the mine owners.
These two disgraceful crimes reflect a shocking tendency in South Africa, which enjoys the glory of being the biggest economy on the continent and a well-functioning democracy, but allows shocking abuse of its citizens by police.
And of course, the two cases I have mentioned above are just the ones that managed to get the widest media coverage in recent months.
Many victims of police brutality in South Africa have been shamed into silence by allegations that it would be hard to convict police, because dockets are known to get lost in police stations.
And for this reason, many never go to the powers that be to seek justice. Police are known to protect their own.
Let us hope these two police brutality cases are going to prompt the South African media - which is facing serious problems of its own - to regularly carry dreadful versions of police brutality, thereby beginning to focus national attention on the problem.
The reputation of the South African media is quickly going down the drain as newsrooms are packed with junior reporters who battle to tell stories in a manner that can put the government under pressure to address all the country's problematic issues.
The government is having a field day outplaying the media attention in many cases.
But the killing of the young Mozambican man seems to have taken outrage against police brutality to a new level, prompting head honchos from all political parties to voice their protest.
As usual, however, ANC leaders were slow to react. It was only on Wednesday this week that secretary general Gwede Mantashe appeared on television to reject the police brutality.
This was after the DA had already visited the victim's family.
Nonetheless, Mantashe described the death of the minibus taxi driver, allegedly at the hands of police, as barbarous.
"What is happening is worrying.... It is a sign that we are a very angry nation and calls for something to be done," he told The Times.
"If you look at what happened in Daveyton, no normal person can do this."
Since the killing, eight suspects have been arrested and the Independent Police Investigation Directorate has said the implicated policemen will be charged with murder.
Creative ways are needed in the law enforcement system to prevent similar occurrances from becoming regular, and to make punishments more convincing.
And ANC leaders like Mantashe must speak out more forcefully about bringing police criminals to justice.
More broadly, South Africa should alter a culture in which police persist to debase the rights of ordinary citizens of the country.
Many South African women claim to have been raped by police officers, and many men and women say they have been robbed by what they claim to be police officers in uniform.
South Africa, a struggling economic power in Africa, can never recuperate and grasp its full potential if its population lives in fear of awful police brutality.
- Fin24
*Mzwandile Jacks is a freelance journalist. Views expressed are his own.
What ignited this police behaviour is nothing else but a secret at this stage. However, whatever it was, it was not frustration caused by lack, hostility or misery. That would be crafting reasons for bad police behaviour.
The alleged brutal killing of this young Mozambican national, Mido Macia, has turned the spotlight on how badly some police treat South African citizens.
On August 16 last year, 34 striking miners at the platinum mine in Marikana were shot dead as they were demanding a salary increase from the mine owners.
These two disgraceful crimes reflect a shocking tendency in South Africa, which enjoys the glory of being the biggest economy on the continent and a well-functioning democracy, but allows shocking abuse of its citizens by police.
And of course, the two cases I have mentioned above are just the ones that managed to get the widest media coverage in recent months.
Many victims of police brutality in South Africa have been shamed into silence by allegations that it would be hard to convict police, because dockets are known to get lost in police stations.
And for this reason, many never go to the powers that be to seek justice. Police are known to protect their own.
Let us hope these two police brutality cases are going to prompt the South African media - which is facing serious problems of its own - to regularly carry dreadful versions of police brutality, thereby beginning to focus national attention on the problem.
The reputation of the South African media is quickly going down the drain as newsrooms are packed with junior reporters who battle to tell stories in a manner that can put the government under pressure to address all the country's problematic issues.
The government is having a field day outplaying the media attention in many cases.
But the killing of the young Mozambican man seems to have taken outrage against police brutality to a new level, prompting head honchos from all political parties to voice their protest.
As usual, however, ANC leaders were slow to react. It was only on Wednesday this week that secretary general Gwede Mantashe appeared on television to reject the police brutality.
This was after the DA had already visited the victim's family.
Nonetheless, Mantashe described the death of the minibus taxi driver, allegedly at the hands of police, as barbarous.
"What is happening is worrying.... It is a sign that we are a very angry nation and calls for something to be done," he told The Times.
"If you look at what happened in Daveyton, no normal person can do this."
Since the killing, eight suspects have been arrested and the Independent Police Investigation Directorate has said the implicated policemen will be charged with murder.
Creative ways are needed in the law enforcement system to prevent similar occurrances from becoming regular, and to make punishments more convincing.
And ANC leaders like Mantashe must speak out more forcefully about bringing police criminals to justice.
More broadly, South Africa should alter a culture in which police persist to debase the rights of ordinary citizens of the country.
Many South African women claim to have been raped by police officers, and many men and women say they have been robbed by what they claim to be police officers in uniform.
South Africa, a struggling economic power in Africa, can never recuperate and grasp its full potential if its population lives in fear of awful police brutality.
- Fin24
*Mzwandile Jacks is a freelance journalist. Views expressed are his own.
