Admin
27 Aug, 2014
SA’s trigger happy police
Media statement by Mr Bongani Msomi, UDM Secretary General Understandably so police brutality is an emotive issue in a country with our history. However, we never in our wildest dreams thought that, post-1994, we would again see brutal police violence. The United Democratic Movement (UDM) is concerned about the number of incidents of late of egregious police brutality and indiscriminate use of force. The ill-considered “shoot first-ask questions later” rhetoric by senior politicians and police officers sketches a bleak picture of a “new policing policy”. This is evidenced by Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega’s attitude towards the Marikana Massacre and now Free State MEC for police, Butana Kompela, has defended violent police action in Henneman where four alleged criminals were killed. The passing of Andries Tatane in 2011 and the death in 2013 of a Mozambican taxi driver after being dragged behind a police van – to name but two – are still fresh in our memories. When the families of Elais Thage and Tsholofelo Mothobi buried their children at the weekend much animosity was directed our police services. The UDM does not dispute that the police has a tough job and we support zero-tolerance to crime, but to laugh off police brutality makes a mockery of our laws and is immoral. Experts have said that it is not small number of officers who act illegally, but that the problem is systemic and widespread, and that it is going to keep on happening. In some instances communities feel justified in retaliating. Despite what our police leaders seem to be proponents of South Africa cannot tolerate a trigger happy police force. In this regard we believe that intensifying police training, especially in the code of conduct, and revisiting the curriculum to enhance overall levels of competence and capacity would be part of the solution. Those officers who make themselves guilty of abusing their positions of trust, should not be defended; they should face the full might of the law. We are hopeful that our new Minister of Police, Nkosinathi Nhleko, will well acquit himself of his job. The UDM however suggests that he institute a judicial commission of inquiry into police brutality to get to the bottom of this scourge.
Admin
31 Dec, 2013
2014 – An opportunity for change
This past year has shown evidence that our Nation is on a slippery slope to becoming a third class nation with its citizens relegated to poverty and struggle. 2013 was littered by far too many corruption scandals, miscarriages of justice and a government that seems hell bent on staying this course. We witnessed the shocking verdict in the Andries Tatane case; the fiasco with the deployment of South African soldiers in the Central African Republic and the scandalous handling of hearings into the Marikana Massacre. Government’s indiscriminate use of its security agencies to quell service delivery protests; the Independent Electoral Commission’s lease agreement scandal and the International Relations Director General’s doubtful spending of half-a-billion Rand in the name of the African Renaissance Fund. The corruption and maladministration at the Universal Service and Access Agency of SA (USAASA). Government’s bungling of the Walter Sisulu University strike; the Tripartite Alliance’s internal strife and petty politics negatively affecting service delivery; the imposition of the e-Tolling system in Gauteng and then of course, Nkandlagate. 2014 brings with it an opportunity for us to recommit to the original agenda: to improve the lives of all South Africans. With the pending national and provincial elections, we hope that South Africans will have opened their eyes and see that the party they have trusted since 1994 have, as time has gone by, abused that trust and used them as voting fodder to enrich the few. To each person in our Rainbow Nation, we hope that 2014 brings with it prosperity and opportunities to better your life and those of your children. Happy New Year
