Share

Keeping the boys in blue in line

I HAVE a recollection of it as if it happened yesterday: watching myself in the mirror and seeing my lower lip bleeding profusely. This was the end result of my encounter with a brutal police assault a couple of minutes earlier.

As a 30-year-old, then living in Moreleta, Pretoria East, I had been attacked by a plainclothes police officer who accused a colleague and myself of driving recklessly.

He let rip with a barrage of punches to my face. He then attacked my colleague before summoning other police officers to the scene.

This was in early 1995, a couple of months before the first anniversary of South Africa’s first all-race democratic elections. The police let us go after I threatened to report the assault at the nearest police station.

For five days after the attack, I stared at the mirror, looking at my lower lip which was badly swollen. When the swelling subsided, I decided to put that moment behind me and keep it secret. I never recounted the events of that day to anyone, not even discussing it with the colleague who was present during the attack.

But the current emergence of new shocking tales of police brutality in South Africa has prompted me to relive those memories 20 years later. And now this is happening in a police force that is mostly populated by black police officers.

The experiences of Mido Macia and Patrick Xaba are the cases that I would like to mention in this article.

Mozambican taxi driver Macia was dragged behind a police van by eight Saps police officers and later found dead in a police cell. The police officers were found guilty of his murder this week.

Xaba was shot in the buttocks and thrown in the boot of a car by Saps members. He has since been paid R500 000 in damages.

How many people are hiding secrets about the abuse they have suffered at the hands of the police? And what are those secrets doing to them?

In a bid to bring these skeletons in the cupboard out into the open, South Africans must tackle the origins of police brutality. This should begin with the admission that the kind of training local police officers receive should be thoroughly looked at.

It looks as if new recruits to the police force are influenced by the on-the-job training they get from the veteran police officers on the streets. And this makes them fail to apply new tactics - which I am sure they do learn at the police academies.

Brutal police officers need to be removed from the police force. South Africa cannot insist on managing policing in an old-fashioned manner. Technology has to be introduced as a new crime-fighting strategy. Police cars and guns should be installed with cameras that record everything that happens on duty.

Not only will technology put a spotlight on the shadowy activities of these police encounters, it will also be critical in improving the community’s faith in police officers and that there is in fact accountability in police ranks.

All of this thinking needs to be advanced under the leadership of President Jacob Zuma, cabinet ministers and law enforcement head honchos. If South Africa misses this opportunity - bestowed on it by history - the country is destined to see more police brutality and madness as the order of the day.

*Mzwandile Jacks is an independent journalist. Opinions expressed are his own.

We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred
Who we choose to trust can have a profound impact on our lives. Join thousands of devoted South Africans who look to News24 to bring them news they can trust every day. As we celebrate 25 years, become a News24 subscriber as we strive to keep you informed, inspired and empowered.
Join News24 today
heading
description
username
Show Comments ()
Rand - Dollar
18.89
+0.2%
Rand - Pound
23.84
+0.3%
Rand - Euro
20.36
+0.4%
Rand - Aus dollar
12.30
+0.3%
Rand - Yen
0.12
+0.2%
Platinum
908.05
0.0%
Palladium
1,014.94
0.0%
Gold
2,232.75
-0.0%
Silver
24.95
-0.1%
Brent Crude
87.00
+1.8%
Top 40
68,346
0.0%
All Share
74,536
0.0%
Resource 10
57,251
0.0%
Industrial 25
103,936
0.0%
Financial 15
16,502
0.0%
All JSE data delayed by at least 15 minutes Iress logo
Company Snapshot
Editorial feedback and complaints

Contact the public editor with feedback for our journalists, complaints, queries or suggestions about articles on News24.

LEARN MORE
Government tenders

Find public sector tender opportunities in South Africa here.

Government tenders
This portal provides access to information on all tenders made by all public sector organisations in all spheres of government.
Browse tenders