Cape Town - Fifteen police stations in the province have been flagged for crimes against civilians as alarming statistics were reported in the Independent Police Investigative Directorate’s (Ipid) annual report.
The report, shared by Community Safety MEC Reagan Allen on Sunday, said that between April 2021 and March 2022, 662 cases in the Western Cape were referred to Ipid, and of these, steps were recommended in 215 (32.5%) cases.
The report detailed steps to be taken after 11 deaths as a result of police action, seven deaths in police custody, nine rapes by police officers, 10 counts of torture and 11 cases of discharge of an official firearm required intervention.
These police stations include Mitchells Plain, Wynberg, Khayelitsha, Lingelethu West, Elsies River, Mbekweni, Lentegeur, Philippi East, Piketberg, Kleinvlei, Hermanus, Nyanga, Malmesbury, Manenberg and Mfuleni.
Activist and whistle-blower, Zona Morton, said recommendations were “not direct instructions” and the onus still rested on the SAPS to take steps against delinquent officers.
“Crime statistics by the police minister are alarming. By the minister’s own admission thousands of SAPS members are criminals. In 67.5% of cases no further action has been taken.
“Deaths in custody are understated in the report. Heidelberg had three deaths as well as Bellville South that is not on the list.
“Rapes by SAPS officers often go unreported due to intimidation by the officers.
Assault cases often go hand in hand with the SAPS being attacked and facing extreme violent protest, but this does not explain why Ipid recommendations are often not executed by SAPS management.
“Working conditions of SAPS officers especially in the province are exacerbated by lack of equipment, vehicles and deployment of officers.
Political interference will not resolve the crisis.
“We have 27 crime intelligence officers with cases relating to corruption in our structure.
“Recommendations are almost never actioned.“
Action Society’s director of community safety, Ian Cameron, said: “A few questions arise such as if poorer communities are more exposed to these types of issues and what are the conditions that police work in there? ”
“Many of the stations that we see are ones that we really have a lot of problems with such as Nyanga, Mfuleni, Macassar, Elsies River and Khayelitsha. Those are all bad areas so a few questions arise from that such as if poorer communities are more exposed to these types of issues and what are the conditions that police work in there? We must ask that because I have often seen that members lose their professional touch due to the circumstances that they work in.”
Ipid spokesperson Lizzy Suping said: “As Ipid we are taking our annual report to Parliament on September 30. We can engage on its contents of the report once it is tabled,” she said. Police union Popcru had not commented by deadline.
Allen urged SAPS to “embark on a concerted effort to reverse the situation.
These statistics are horrific, a disgrace and an indictment on SAPS. It’s a travesty that the very service that should be protecting us, while upholding the law are allegedly guilty of crime. Deaths, rapes and other crime by an SAPS officer can and will never be condoned”.
Cape Times