SAHRC hearings: Weaknesses and shortcomings identified

PLANS are under way to ensure more resources are invested in the police, President Cyril Ramaphosa told a panel investigating the cause of the July unrest.

He was testifying during the South African Human Rights Commission’s national hearings on Friday.

He said the Africa report, which was compiled by experts and submitted in December, detailed the response of the various state entities to the unrest.

Ramaphosa said the report identified several weaknesses and shortcomings. It also provided recommendations on remedial action to safeguard the integrity, security and stability of the country.

He said the challenges included not filling posts.

“There were too many vacancies, positions that should have been filled like in crime intelligence. There were failures in the Public Order Policing (POP) as there was too much centralisation. All were just located in one area and not able to respond quickly to events that would happen in other parts of the country.

“Also, insufficient training and lack of coordination within the structure itself and in sharing information of intelligence among those various arms who were meant to deal with the matters of security.”

Ramaphosa said the absence of resources and officers trained in public order policing that were available at police stations was also a problem, and this resulted in the police being overwhelmed.

“I talk about a police station in Soweto, which is right across the shopping mall, and the police just stood and watched because they were incapacitated. What we have done now is we are further capacitating police and giving them further funding to address these shortcomings because the security of people in South Africa should really be uppermost in our minds."

Ramaphosa said even if the information was provided prior to the unrest, the police response would have been the same.

“With the benefit of hindsight in regards to the intensity and the organised manner and speed it happened, given their lack of resources they had, I think they would have been challenged.

“I should hasten to say this. The police did the best they could under the challenging circumstances. They suffered because of the weak system they operated under. Some of them just demonstrated incredible bravery and courage. Some were injured quite seriously as they tried to defend our people, land and property.”

He said the scale, intensity and ferocity of the unrest were unforeseen. “What we had gleaned from some of the reports was that there were protests, signs of unhappiness, particularity over the incarceration of former president Jacob Zuma, but none of what ensued, the targeting of malls and infrastructure, was foreseen.”

He said community policing forums should be resuscitated in communities.

“One of the issues the Africa report speaks to is about building confidence between the people and police and how we can take steps to do so. We found the community policing forums are very unique as they prevent undesirable initiatives like vigilantism.

“Through the forums, communities are well connected with the police, and work together to address the criminality, gender-based violence and a whole range of other issues, together.”

He said those who instigated and co-ordinated the unrest must face the law.

“A failure to do so would be a gross injustice to our people.

“In the end, we have to do good by our people and ensure that those who organised and perpetrated these acts, which led to the deaths of so many, are brought to justice.”

The hearings were adjourned.