The South African National Defence Force is today deployed at five hospitals – three in Gauteng and two more in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN). The military says in a statement the SANDF has been instructed to render support to any government department that may require assistance during the public service strike. Media reports say at least seven people, including three babies have died because of the work stoppage.

“In response to the instruction, SANDF soldiers have been deployed in Gauteng, Limpopo and KwaZulu Natal while forces have been placed on standby in Mpumalanga, Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Free State, North West and the Northern Cape provinces,” the statement said.

It added that at the request of the national Department of Health, the SA Military Health Service (SAMHS) has deployed medical teams to support medical functions at Natalspruit, Chris Hani Baragwanath and Helen Joseph hospitals in Gauteng as well as the King Edward VII and Mahatma Ghandi Memorial hospitals in KZN.

“The SAMHS is ready to deploy further medical teams where such assistance may be required. To ensure both the safety of SANDF personnel deployed to hospitals and the continued provision of essential services, the SANDF has deployed SA Army elements as a protection element to each of these hospitals. The SANDF is fully committed to fulfil its mandate in support of the people of the Republic of South Africa.”

A professional police service can play an important role in reducing violent crime and improving community safety. Clear evidence of the effectiveness of good policing has emerged from both resource-rich countries such as in New York City, USA and developing countries, such as the Columbian city of Bogota. Good policing means professional policing. In other words, the police must do their work in accordance to the law without fear or favour and be seen to do so. This strengthens the social contract that citizens have with the state, in which the state’s role is to act fairly and in the public interest. When the police are perceived to be biased and do not treat everyone equally or fairly, the general public increasingly loses trust and respect for the police - and their ability to tackle crime becomes severely constrained.

South Africans should therefore pay close attention in instances when the South African Police Service (SAPS) appears to be misused in the interest of the elite. Much has recently been written about the arrest of Sunday Times journalist, Mzilikazi wa Afrika, at his office on the morning of Wednesday, 4 August. From the information available, this appears to be yet another case where members of the SAPS have acted in a manner that seems to favour the interests of the ruling elite over those of ordinary citizens

On Monday 13 July 2010, the South African parliament released the Independent Police Investigative Directorate Bill for public comment. This Bill seeks to re-organise and strengthen the existing Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD) and therefore presents a welcome development for civilian oversight of the police in South Africa. The ICD was established so as to meet the requirement of section 206 (6) of the Constitution that an “independent police complaints body” be established in terms of national legislation to investigate any alleged misconduct or offence committed by a member of the police service.

The ICD was initially established in 1995 in terms of Chapter 10 of the South African Police Service Act. This Act compels the ICD to investigate all deaths that occur as a result of police action or while in police custody. The Act further states that the ICD “may” investigate allegations of misconduct of police officers or other types of complaints against the police. Due to inadequate resources, most complaints of this nature received by the ICD are referred back to police for investigation.

Unfortunately, for much of its existence the ICD has suffered from a general public perception that it was a “toothless watchdog” when it came to investigating police misconduct or criminality. This is partly unfair as it is not necessarily due to shortcomings on the part of the ICD but has more to do with insufficient political support, which resulted the agency having inadequate resources to effectively investigate all allegations its receives of police wrongdoing. In addition, SAPS management appear to have demonstrated little appetite in supporting external investigations against their members and often ignore the recommendations of the ICD to take disciplinary action against police officials when evidence of misconduct has emerged.

THE Democratic Alliance in KwaZulu-Natal has expressed alarm following reports that six members of a crack SAPS unit, based in KwaZulu-Natal, have been arrested for alleged theft and robbery (see Mercury report).

According to reports, the officers are part of the newly-established SAPS Technical Response Team, a unit designed by Police Commissioner Bheki Cele to reduce serious crime levels in province.  The men are believed to have been apprehended yesterday in Umlazi.  DA KZN Community Safety and Liaison spokesperson, Sizwe Mchunu, has expressed shock at the news.  "These officers form part of a special unit and have been cherry-picked based on their crime-fighting abilities.  For six members to be implicated in criminal activity themselves is astounding.  The issue of police officers being perpetrators poses a serious risk to government and the people of our province.  These are the people that we rely on to combat crime - yet here they are adding to what is already a serious problem."

Mchunu said that the DA had, for some time, been calling for answers around increased levels of criminal activity within the force.  "We need to know how many KZN police officers are currently under investigation, or have criminal cases pending, and will call on provincial MEC for Safety, Willies Mchunu, to provide us with this information.  It is simply incomprehensible that a department of this calibre should have its own members implicated."

Statement issued by Sizwe Mchunu, MPP, DA KZN Spokesperson for Community Safety and Liaison, July 28 2010