Zuma calls on police to defend human rights

PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma on Thursday reaffirmed the government’s determination to build a police service that respects the rights of all, saying there had been some "regrettable, shocking and unacceptable" incidents involving the South African Police Service (SAPS) since the last Human Rights Day commemoration.

The SAPS has come under intense scrutiny since the Marikana incident, where police killed 34 striking mineworkers, and the death of taxi driver Mido Macia, who was tied and dragged behind a police van near Johannesburg.

Speaking during the official Human Rights Day celebrations in Paarl, Western Cape, Mr Zuma said such incidents should not "make us condemn our entire police service … as being brutal. The overwhelming majority of our police fight crime within the confines … of the constitution and we applaud them for that.... We must support them as well in their efforts to root out rotten apples from their ranks who engage in criminal action."

However, a survey released by the South African Institute of Race Relations this week reported more than 3.3-million crimes a year, and half are not reported.

These figures included 82,000 unreported cases of house robbery and 8,000 unreported car hijackings. One in every three murder cases went unreported last year, while expenditure on private security rose from R2bn in the 1990s to an estimated R50bn in 2011.

Mr Zuma said: "To promote a human rights ethos among police officials, we have directed that the SAPS code of conduct, in which an ethos of human rights is firmly entrenched, be promoted among all police officials. They must live, breathe and personify the police code of conduct."

He also called for "people (to) stop talking the economy and the country down. We should all play our role to make our country attractive to … investors so the economy can grow …. We need to take a more balanced view of our country and … acknowledge the achievements of our democracy ."

Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille repeated her call for Mr Zuma to establish a judicial c ommission of inquiry into "pervasive police brutality".

Mr Zuma in Parliament this week said there was no need for such a commission because the incidents of abuse were isolated.

"We have already taken a similar step … in the Western Cape. I … established a commission of inquiry into allegations of police inefficiency in Khayelitsha, and of a breakdown in relations between the community and the police in the area, " Ms Zille said during Human Rights Day celebrations in Sharpeville near Johannesburg.

"Sadly, instead of seeing it as an opportunity to work with us to improve policing, the national minister of police has stated he will go all the way to the Constitutional Court to stop the work of the commission."

Ms Zille said between 2011 and 2012, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate received 4,923 complaints in relation to the actions of SAPS members. Of these, 720 arose from deaths. "The increasing brutal acts committed by the police and the high crime rates across the country have resulted in many South Africans losing faith in the SAPS," Ms Zille said.

Addressing about 2,000 people near the Marikana koppie, United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa commended mineworkers for fighting for better wages without their trade union. "It was brave of you to bypass the middleman … when you realised it was no longer serving your best interests."

Mr Holomisa also commended the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union for its work during wage negotiations with Lonmin.

(2013-03-22/bdlive )