SOUTH AFRICA – THE POLICE V VIOLENCE.

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The Continent
issue 93. july 16 2022
31
The police play a part in South Africa’s violence crisis
‘Theatre’ keeps public in line, not violent criminals
Christopher McMichael
Last weekend, at least 22 people were killed in shootings at South African taverns. In Soweto alone, 16 people were massacred by unknown gunmen, while smaller incidents occurred in other parts of the country.
This shocking violence – which comes weeks after the still-unsolved deaths of 21 teenagers in another tavern in the Eastern Cape – reflects a crisis of social disintegration.
Against a backdrop of chronic unemployment, continual revelations of government corruption, rolling blackouts and environmental disasters, such horrific violence underscores the feeling that the state has no capability – or interest – in protecting its citizens.
Along with killings linked to organised crime, political violence has also sharply increased, with the emergence of armed xenophobic groups, sabotage of infrastructure, and the rioting which rocked parts of the country after the jailing of disgraced former president Jacob Zuma in 2021.
Through all this, one question remains unanswered: Where are the police?
In response to the Soweto killings, Police Minister Bheki Cele – whose tenure has been accompanied by regular accusations of incompetence – has promised to flood the streets with militarised South African Police Service (SAPS) units. This is echoed by the media and academic specialists who maintain that more police are the solution to crime and instability.
However, the belief that the complex political and economic causes of social violence can be simply resolved with more belligerent, kick-in-the-door policing is a simplistic fantasy. For one, the SAPS is hardly a neutral protector.
Alongside officers implicated in assault, bribery, torture and political repression, compromised police are enablers of criminal violence, such as in the case of officer Chris Prinsloo, who sold more than 2,000 firearms to drug gangs, directly escalating street violence. This problem also extends to the country’s massive private security sector, with gangs registering front companies to acquire weapons, and guards moonlighting as assassins.
Historically, during apartheid, the police were a highly corrupt force of oppression, designed only to suppress the black majority. Since 1994, the state has failed to fundamentally change this authoritarian logic.
The government’s response to high-profile acts of violent crime is to launch police and military clampdowns in townships and informal settlements. These are primarily acts of security theatre, intended to send a message through the media that the state is tough on crime.
In practice, however, it not only leads to increased brutality against the public but fails to address the issues which lead to tavern shootings. Mass unemployment, inequality and predatory state power fuel social hatred, and leave a large pool of brutalised and alienated young people who may be sucked into the criminal underworld.
A general climate of lawlessness is also fuelled by official hypocrisy. Time and time again, South Africans have seen the authorities fail to act against wealthy and powerful people engaged in racketeering and massive white-collar crime.
This encourages the nihilistic sense that society is a free-for-all, where brazenly defying the law is considered the only realistic path to success. A grim deluge of news about state and corporate corruption frankly gives little incentive to follow the rules.
South Africa’s policing woes also reflect wider problems. The #EndSARS movement in Nigeria, and recent activism against state killings in Nairobi highlight how, throughout the continent, police act in violent and anti-democratic ways that reflect their origins as instruments established for colonial exploitation.
Across both the global South and North, police and nebulously defined “security forces” engage in intrusive surveillance, mass detentions and political repression. This is legitimated with the claim that they need expanded power to keep us safe from “crime” and “terrorism”.
This translates to a form of emotional blackmail. More often, the police defend the unjust economic and political systems which fuel conflict and violence. Rather than acquiring more power and weapons to defend society from dangerous groups, these resources are used to keep the wider public in line.
There are certain limited ways that the SAPS could stem some of the current killings, such as creating specialised units to stem the flow of illegal firearms. But beyond these measures, SAPS is fundamentally unequipped to deal with the root causes of crime.
South Africa needs to abandon the conservative idea that more police equals less crime. Instead, we need to confront why, three decades after democracy, the country remains an incredibly dangerous shooting gallery where life is cheap. ■
Christopher McMichael is a political and cultural writer based in Johannesburg. His book Shoot To Kill: Police and Power in South Africa (Inkani Books