Picture: GALLO IMAGES/DIE SON/WILLIAM McKINTOSH
Picture: GALLO IMAGES/DIE SON/WILLIAM McKINTOSH

Ipid failures fuel poor perceptions

“THERE were protests in Rooigrand,” says Monametsi Moeti, a ward councillor in the area. In early 2013, the community was aggrieved over local housing issues and took to the streets. “The police started shooting. One youth was shot in his head with a rubber bullet.” It lodged in the back of his head and he needed medical attention, but police refused to let an ambulance into the community.

In Mahikeng, Moeti and others tried to lodge a complaint against the police at the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid), which has a mandate to ensure objective oversight of police investigations into alleged criminal offences committed by officers. “They were not helpful, really,” Moeti says.

BOX: NDP: By 2030 all South Africans should feel safe
Programme: Independent Police Investigative Directorate to ensure oversight of police
Issue: Directorate is ineffective

Executive summary — Safety

For crime and corruption, two broad themes of the NDP, there are no easy “headline targets” and the targeted outcomes are descriptive: people will “feel safe at home, at school and at work”, the criminal justice system is “well-resourced, professional” and SA’s borders are “secured and well-managed”. This outcome is spread across a number of departments, which in itself is an obstacle to smooth progress. The government acknowledges that people’s perceptions of crime have worsened and that it will be difficult to achieve its targets. Some of the targets are relatively low to reflect this reality. Other targets (such as improving SA’s reputation in respect of corruption) are vague. The creation of a new cybercrime-fighting unit will be completed by 2016. This is an ambitious project where there may be scope for private sector IT companies to assist.

The NDP says that by 2030 all people in SA should feel safe and not fear crime. The criminal justice system must be strengthened and, to boost effectiveness and increase the public’s faith in the system, police services must be demilitarised and professionalised.

“The directorate plays an essential role in promoting a transparent and accountable police service in SA by investigating criminal offences allegedly committed by members of the South African Police Service and Municipal Police Services,” Ipid says in its most recent budget on its role in building trust. Faced with budgetary constraints, administrative challenges and a perception that the organisation protects rather than catches dirty cops, Ipid’s budget is rising from R213m in 2012/13 to an expected R260m in 2016/17 and it has set new targets.

In Mahikeng, Ipid registered the case but had low hopes of any action being taken. It was dark when protesters fought with police, so the community could not identify the officers. Police had come from outside the area. Officers also claimed they were not carrying rubber bullets on the night, despite the community having pictures of the shells and the young man having a rubber bullet removed from his head in hospital.

Investigators called once and conducted one interview, then the complainants never heard more about the case. Because of their excuses that Ipid would not be able to identify the officers involved, Moeti believes they failed to adequately pursue the case.

Despite Ipid’s mandate to hold police accountable, instead of building faith, Moeti’s experience adds to the mistrust. It is one example of many in which government policy fails in terms of implementation and practice.

Safety