Safety, Justice & People's Power

FLAP: 95mm FOLD Outside Cover: Safety, Justice & People’s Power Draft 8: 02 March 2016 SPINE: 10.5mm BOOK WIDTH: 231.5mm (230mm + 1.5mm over foredge for cover) FOLD FLAP: 95mm SAFETY, JUSTICE & PEOPLE’S POWER

In late 2013, after a decade of civil-society Safety, Justice & campaign work that culminated in a landmark victory at the Constitutional Court, the O’Regan-Pikoli Commission of Inquiry People’s Power was ﬁnally established. This is the rst time in its history that Safety, Justice & At Lookout Hill in Khayelitsha’s Ilitha Park, its A Companion to the civil society has used the Constitution O’Regan-Pikoli Commission of Inquiry public hearings brought together community I am prepared into Policing in Khayelitsha of the Republic in such a manner in members, SAPS ocers and a range of to apologise for the the advancement of core and central People’s Power experts whose testimonies revealed many lack of services examples of police ineciency and a Khayelitsha is Cape Town’s largest township. More than half of constitutional rights. This is no small breakdown in relations between SAPS and the rendered to address its households live in neglected informal settlements where victory for the women, men and children people of Khayelitsha. the crime problems severe shortages of infrastructure and police personnel leave who make up the Khayelitsha community, in the Khayelitsha residents vulnerable to high levels of crime. A Companion to the In its ocial report, entitled Towards a Safer for it is for the protection and vindication Khayelitsha, the Commission presented the area The South African Police Service is entrusted with protecting all of the rights of ordinary individuals O’Regan-Pikoli Commission of Inquiry civilians, and yet after more than two decades of reform and Minister of Police with valuable ﬁndings and democracy it still has no clear strategy for policing the country’s that our Constitution came into being. into Policing in Khayelitsha recommendations, applicable to police work poorest residential areas. Even as crime levels rise, resource across all South African working-class allocations remain disproportionately low, suggesting a ~ From the opening statement to the Commission communities and informal settlements. systematic bias against working-class black communities. (read by Advocate Ncumisa Mayosi for the complainant organisations) And yet, more than a year after its publication, In 2014, the O’Regan-Pikoli Commission of Inquiry into Policing 23 January 2014 none of the Commission’s recommendations in Khayelitsha brought us closer than ever to understanding the have been implemented. The residents of complex nature of these problems, as well as why they persist. Khayelitsha, like those in other deprived areas, Based on the principle that every person is equally entitled to a are still as vulnerable to violent crime and safe and digni ed existence, this book seeks to revive and inadequate policing as they were before the

reinforce the Commission’s ndings and recommendations. Commission was established. BOOK HEIGHT: 275mm

Because all people are equally entitled to a safe and digniﬁed existence, this book seeks to revive and reinforce the Commission’s indispensible evidence, ﬁndings and

recommendations. A Companion to the O’Regan-Pikoli Commission of Inquiry of O’Regan-Pikoli the Commission to Companion A

Onwards to a safer Khayelitsha and a safer South Africa!

FOLD FOLD FLAP: 95mm FOLD Outside Cover: Safety, Justice & People’s Power Draft 8: 02 March 2016 SPINE: 10.5mm BOOK WIDTH: 231.5mm (230mm + 1.5mm over foredgeFLAP: for 95mmcover)FLAP: 95mm FOLD FOLDFOLD Intside Cover:Intside Safety, Cover:FLAP: Justice Safety, 95mm &Justice People’s & People’s Power Power Draft 8: 02Draft March 8: 02 2016 March 2016 SPINE: 10.5mmSPINE: 10.5mm BOOK WIDTH:BOOK 231.5mmWIDTH: 231.5mm (230mm (230mm + 1.5mm + over1.5mm foredge over foredgefor cover) for cover) FOLD FOLD FLAP: 95mmFLAP: 95mm SAFETY, JUSTICE & PEOPLE’S POWER

reinforce the Commission’s ndings and recommendations. Commission was established. BOOK HEIGHT: 275mm BOOK HEIGHT: 275mm BOOK HEIGHT: 275mm

Because all people are equally entitled to a safe and digniﬁed existence, this book seeks to revive and reinforce the Commission’s indispensible evidence, ﬁndings and

recommendations.

A Companion to the O’Regan-Pikoli Commission of Inquiry Inquiry of of O’Regan-PikoliO’Regan-Pikoli the the Commission Commission to to Companion Companion A A

Onwards to a safer Khayelitsha and a safer South Africa!

FOLD FOLD FOLDFOLD FOLD FOLD

Published by Ndifuna Ukwazi March 2016

ISBN: 978-0-620-69715-6

Ndifuna Ukwazi (NU) is a non-profit organisation that provides strategic legal services, research capacity and training opportunities to social movements and community-based organisations.

Office 302, 47 on Strand Strand Street Cape Town [email protected] 021 423 3089

Written and project-managed by Richard Conyngham Design & layout by Gaelen Pinnock Illustrations by The Trantraal Brothers

Printed by Paarl Media Paarl

Credits:

Comic illustrations – © 2015 The Trantraal Brothers: cover & flaps, all chapter dividers, poster, pp. i-iii, p. xi, pp. 2-5, pp. 7-8, p. 14, p. 17, p. 19, pp. 22-23, pp. 28-30, pp. 32-35, pp. 39-40, pp. 43-46, p. 48, p. 60, pp. 62-66, p. 68, p. 71, p. 73, pp. 78-79, p. 82, pp. 95-98, p. 100; © 2012 Zapiro: p. ix (reprinted with permission – www. zapiro.com)

Photographs – © City of Cape Town (DI&GIS): front and back endpapers (aerial photos of Khayelitsha); © David Harrison: p. x (all), p. xii (top), p. xiii (middle left & bottom), p. 20 (both), p. 37, p. 38, p. 42, p. 47, p. 49, p. 67, p. 73, p. 78, p. 81, p. 83, p. 89, p. 90, pp. 92-93 (all), p. 100, pp. 106-107, p. 108 (bottom); © Yasser Booley: p. xii (bottom), p. xiii (top-left & top-right), p. 16, p. 18, p. 61, p. 70, p. 77; © Shae Herrmann: p. 9 (bottom), p. 21, p. 41, p. 69, pp. 74-75, p. 108 (top); © Cole Collection: p. 6 (both), p. 9 (top); © Kate Ncisana private collection: p. 8; © Daneel Knoetze: p. 15; © Armand Hough: pp. 84- 85; © Masixole Feni: p. 99 Safety, Justice & People’s Power

A Companion to the O’Regan-Pikoli Commission of Inquiry into Policing in Khayelitsha

By Richard Conyngham and The Trantraal Brothers Contents

ix Introduction 1 Khayelitsha

2 Map of Khayelitsha 4 Life on the Margins: The Origins of Khayelitsha 10 Khayelitsha Today: Demographics & Socio-economic Conditions

13 The Eight Original Complainants

14 Zoliswa Nkonyana 15 Nokuzolo Mantshantsha 17 Makhosandile ‘Scare’ Qezo 18 A young boy from Taiwan, Site C 19 Lorna Mlofana 21 Nandipha Makeke 22 Adelaide Ngongwana 23 Angy Peter

24 Khayelitsha Crime Statistics 27 Testimonies: The Community

31 Vigilantism 36 Children and Youth Gangs 40 Domestic Violence 44 Foreign Nationals and Xenophobia 45 Violence against LGBTI People 46 Alcohol and Shebeens 49 Community Police Forums 51 SAPS: Structures and Functions

52 Organisational Structure 54 Functions 56 Ranks 57 Code of Conduct

59 Testimonies: The Police

60 Environment vs Crime Scene Management 66 Resources and Facilities 71 Detectives and Dockets 73 FCS Unit 74 Institutional Culture, Morale and Absenteeism 76 Arrest, Detention and Release 79 Internal Inspections and Disciplinary Action 80 Recruitment and Training 80 Crime Intelligence 82 Feedback and Internal Communications

87 Testimonies: The Government

88 Complaints and Oversight 91 Infrastructure 94 Health Care and Forensics 99 Criminal Justice

101 Recommendations

105 Afterword 109 Acknowledgments 110 Index

This book is dedicated to all victims and survivors of violent crime in South Africa “ I would like to tell this Commission that none of my family members are okay. My family is still saying that if the law cannot take its course then they want to avenge my son’s death. ” . ~~ Beauty Thosholo Domestic worker, Site B 30 January 2014

“ I felt very helpless and traumatised. I do not understand what happened to my case. My husband is back at home and I am very scared of him. I tried to protect myself with a protection order, but that has not worked. I do not understand how the police and the court have allowed the case to be dismissed, and for my husband to just move back into my house, just because of a lack of a signature on a form. They have my statement and my daughter’s statement. ” ~~ Ms ND Spaza shop owner, Khayelitsha 14 November 2013 “ My management accepts and welcomes any intervention from anybody to better the service to the community and we really look forward to the outcome of this Commission so that we can see and evaluate how can we better the service to the various communities that we serve because we will not only use the outcome of this Commission for the three police stations but we will look broader in the Western Province itself to all 150 police stations. ” . ~~ Lieutenant General Arno Lamoer SAPS Provincial Commissioner Western Cape, 1 April 2014

“ I think all communities should acknowledge that SAPS cannot do this alone. ” ~~ Phumeza Mlungwana General Secretary, SJC 24 January 2014

After more than two decades of and its recommendations as to how Introduction democracy, the majority of people in police inefficiency and a breakdown of Khayelitsha continue to live without relations between the South African the basic services taken for granted Police Service (SAPS) and the in South Africa’s historically white community of Khayelitsha should be suburbs. The poverty and indignity addressed. endured by this large community on The Commission came about as a daily basis is alarming – most of its the result of a ten-year struggle residents live in shacks, many have for safety and justice in poor and The O’Regan-Pikoli limited access to water, sanitation and working-class communities. This electricity, and tens of thousands of its began with the work of the Treatment Commission came young people cannot find work. Action Campaign (TAC) in Khayelitsha, Safety, too, is a huge priority. where, between 2003 and 2006, two about as the result of Crime is rampant in Khayelitsha and of the organisation’s members – it manifests in the most brutal ways. Lorna Mlofana and Nandipha Makeke a ten-year struggle Vulnerable residents are cruelly – became the victims of appalling for safety and justice victimised, the young are exposed to gender-based violence. extreme acts of violence, and some- In 2010, the Social Justice Coalition in poor and working- times mobs take justice into their own (SJC), an organisation established in hands. response to the spate of xenophobic class communities In late 2014, the O’Regan-Pikoli violence that broke out in May 2008, Commission published its 540-page then led the call for a Commission of report, entitled Towards a Safer Inquiry as part of its Justice for All Khayelitsha. This document – based on Campaign. almost two years of meticulous inves- On 28 November 2011, together tigation, 40 days of public hearings, with five other civil-society organisa- 50,000 pages of police documents, 400 tions – TAC, Equal Education (EE), dockets, dozens of expert reports and Free Gender, the Triangle Project and approximately 200 affidavits – con- Ndifuna Ukwazi (NU) – the SJC lodged tained both the Commission’s findings an official complaint with Western Cape Premier Helen Zille, SAPS, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), and other government stakeholders. Even though, from the outset, the ‘complainant organisations’ made it clear that their aim was “not to single out a particular department or organ of state, to simply criticise or place blame”, the Premier initially resisted the request. But when the campaign gained momentum and took to the streets in protest, in August 2012 she and her cabinet came around to the idea, drawing up a mandate which regret- tably excluded certain provincial and City-governed bodies – such as the Metro Police and Anti-Land Invasion Unit – that work closely with SAPS across Greater Cape Town. To lead the Inquiry, two highly experienced Commissioners were appointed: former Constitutional Court Justice Kate O’Regan (as Chairperson)

Introduction ~ ix and former head of the NPA, Advocate Vusi Pikoli. They were supported by four additional staff members: Advo- cates Nazreen Bawa and Thembalihle Sidaki (Evidence Leaders); Amanda Dissel (Secretary); and Khangelani Rawuza (Office Administrator). The Commission began its work immediately by issuing provisional working methods, setting down dates for the public hearings, and sending letters to the National Commissioner of Police, the Western Cape Provincial Commissioner and the three Khayelit- sha station commanders, requesting their cooperation, as well as documents and other information. Almost two months later, SAPS had provided nothing but a single acknowledgment of receipt, leaving the Commission with little option but to issue subpoenas. The Minister of Police, Nathi Mthethwa, then launched legal proceedings in the hope of nullifying the subpoenas and setting aside Premier Zille’s earlier decision to appoint the Commission. Although it was argued that the Premier had failed to engage with SAPS at national and provincial level in the build-up to the Commission’s establishment, evidence suggested precisely the opposite: that, in failing to cooperate for over six months, the Minister himself had displayed a worrying disregard for the people of Khayelitsha. In January 2013, after Judge James Yekiso of the Western Cape High Court had ruled in favour of the Commission going ahead, the Minister decided to challenge once more – this time at the Constitutional Court. Handed down on 1 October 2013, the ConCourt’s judgment was upheld by a unanimous bench and set a number of precedents. Chief among these was its affirmation of the provincial government’s powers of oversight in relations to SAPS. It also reinforced the right of any South African community to demand effective, efficient and respectful policing. In the words of Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke:

x ~ Introduction Finally free to proceed, the The details of Commission set up its office in incessant crime Harare, Khayelitsha. Its staff began emerging from the complaint are taking statements from community unsettling. members, meeting with a range of government agencies and Khayelitsha- There is much to worry about when based organisations, journalists and the institutions radio DJs, issuing press statements, that are meant to distributing posters and publicising protect vulnerable residents fail, or the establishment and mandate of the are perceived to Commission. be failing. Between January and April 2014, The police service has been two phases of public hearings were entrusted with the held in the hall at Lookout Hill in duty to protect the Khayelitsha’s Ilitha Park. These were inhabitants of South consistently well-attended by a Africa and to uphold large audience of mostly community and enforce The Constitution the law. requires accountability members, as well as representatives and transparency in of the complainant organisations, governance. And it establishes SAPS members and journalists. The both a general framework for oversight as well as back section of the hall was set aside specific mechanisms through for an exhibition on Khayelitsha’s which a province may exact history with Kate Ncisana, one of the accountability. township’s original residents, at hand The complainants to answer questions. sought to invoke these Over two days in late January, oversight mechanisms, which will be best the Commission – together with served by a commission legal counsel for the complainants, entrusted with powers SAPS, the Department of Community of subpoena over members of the Police Safety (DOCS) and the City of Cape Service. Town – also conducted inspections ~~ Deputy Chief Justice in loco across Khayelitsha, visiting Dikgang Moseneke all three police stations, the cluster Constitutional Court command office and several informal settlements. Though painstaking and at times uneasy, the Commission’s work was neither an elaborate witch hunt nor a costly exercise in public shaming. On the contrary, its members understood their purpose to be purely investigative and forward-looking – to get to the bottom of the complainants’ allegations and to propose empathetic recommendations to alleviate SAPS’s failures and reconcile the residents of Khayelitsha with the men and women tasked with protecting them. Given that this all came about as the result of a decade-long struggle which began with the community itself, it was a reminder of what can be achieved by even the most vulnerable citizens in the name of justice.

Introduction ~ xi Above: Community members welcome Judge Yekiso’s decision Given that this all came about outside the Western Cape High Court. Below: The Lookout Hill Tourism Centre in Ilitha Park, Khayelitsha, where the as the result of a decade-long Commission’s public hearings were held. struggle which began with Opposite page, clockwise from top-left: The Commission, the community itself, it was a accompanied by community members, SAPS officers, lawyers and journalists, on Hlobo Street in Ilitha Park during the inspections in reminder of what can be achieved loco; Justice O’Regan and Advocate Pikoli peruse a docket at SAPS Lingelethu West; a packed hall at Lookout Hill on the opening by even the most vulnerable day of proceedings; the Commissioners together with Evidence citizens in the name of justice Leaders Thembalihle Sidaki and Nazreen Bawa at a preliminary press conference.

xii ~ Introduction Introduction ~ xiii

Khayelitsha

In the early 1980s, Khayelitsha was nothing more than a barren expanse of sand dunes and wind- hardened scrub. Today, its three SAPS precincts encompass one of South Africa’s most neglected and troubled residential areas, with an impoverished community of some 425,000 residents, and a murder rate unmatched by any other nationwide.

In anticipation of the testimonies to follow, this chapter focuses on Khayelitsha itself. Drawing on the evidence of expert witnesses – which helped the Commission to grasp the township’s history, geography, demographics and socio-economic conditions – it highlights the many cruel and complex factors which, for decades, have conspired against the women, men and children who call Khayelitsha their home.

1 N

Map of P H I L I PPI N2 CAPE TOWN W E Khayelitsha Nyanga Precinct Mfuleni I K W E Z I P A R K Precinct Hospital Detached from most of its neigh- Mew Way bouring residential areas by ‘buffer T H E M B O K W E Z I M X O L I S I zones’ of uninhabited, inhospitable P H E T A N I Police Station terrain – to the north, the N2 national highway; to the north-east, a wetland; Magistrate’s Court N O N Q U B E L A and to the south and south-east, a swathe of sand dunes and the sea Thuthuzela Centre – Khayelitsha, much like townships born from the 1950 Group Areas Act, Kleinvlei Railway Station exists in a state of physical and socio- Khayelitsha BARNE T M O L O K W A N A Precinct Site B Spine Road economic exclusion. Precinct C O RNE R While its northern, western and Fire Station southern perimeters are fringed by The Khayelitsha Site B station’s area of Lansdowne Road B O N G A N I densely-packed informal settlements, jurisdiction includes Site B and Site C, the Taxi Rank its more established formal suburbs TR, RR and BM informal settlements, and L E N T E G E U R – largely situated in the centre – are K-section. Prior to 2004, only this station DRI FTS A NDS Informal settlements either bounded or interspersed by existed, with support from two smaller Pama Road clusters of informal dwellings. satellite stations in Harare and Lingelethu West. Harare Sand dunes EYET H U Precinct N2 SOMERSET WEST Mew Way Lingelethu K H AY A Marshlands BEAC O N V A L L E Y West Roughly triangular Precinct Lingelethu West is the smallest of the three

precincts. Its station services the central S I LW E R T O W N or boot-like in shape, areas of Khayelitsha, which include Ilitha M A C ASSA R Park and a section of Endlovini. G R A C E L A N D Spine Road and covering some EKU P HUM U L E N I EAST R I D G E GOO D H O P E In 2004, SAPS identiﬁed the need for a 43 square kilometres fourth police station in Makhaza, ILIT H A P A R K of the Cape Flats, Khayelitsha. At the time of the K H A YEL I T S H A Commission’s hearings, construction had TA F E L S I G M A N D E L A P A R K Lookout Hill U M R H A B U L O still not begun, despite it being a priority for Khayelitsha is divided T R I A N G L E the 2014/15 year. The Commission’s hearings took place in a Walter Sisulu Road into three police hall which forms part of the Lookout Hill Tourism Centre at the intersection of Mew H A R A R E K U Y A S A Way and Spine Road in Ilitha Park. E N K A N I N I precincts – namely, Steve Biko Road I N F O R M A L SETTL E M E N T The suburban railway line runs diagonally across Khayelitsha in a south-easterly Khayelitsha Site B, Mew Way direction, with ﬁve stations dotted along it, connecting residents with the Cape Town M O N W A B I S I Harare and Lingelethu The Harare station covers a more extensive city centre.

area than its neighbouring Khayelitsha Mitchells E NDL O V I N I West – each of which I N F O R M A L precincts, consisting of the bigger part of Plain SETTL E M E N T Macassar the Endlovini informal settlement as well Precinct Precinct has its own police as the neighbourhoods of Enkanini, Kuyasa station. and Makhaza. Baden Powell Drive

False Bay 2 ~ Khayelitsha N

P H I L I PPI N2 CAPE TOWN W E Nyanga Precinct Mfuleni I K W E Z I P A R K Precinct Mew Way Hospital

T H E M B O K W E Z I M X O L I S I P H E T A N I Police Station

Magistrate’s Court N O N Q U B E L A

Thuthuzela Centre Kleinvlei Khayelitsha BARNE T Railway Station M O L O K W A N A Precinct Site B C O RNE R Spine Road Precinct Fire Station The Khayelitsha Site B station’s area of Lansdowne Road B O N G A N I jurisdiction includes Site B and Site C, the Taxi Rank TR, RR and BM informal settlements, and L E N T E G E U R K-section. Prior to 2004, only this station DRI FTS A NDS Informal settlements existed, with support from two smaller Pama Road satellite stations in Harare and Lingelethu West. Harare Sand dunes EYET H U Precinct N2 SOMERSET WEST Mew Way Lingelethu K H AY A Marshlands BEAC O N V A L L E Y West Precinct Lingelethu West is the smallest of the three precincts. Its station services the central S I LW E R T O W N areas of Khayelitsha, which include Ilitha M A C ASSA R Park and a section of Endlovini. G R A C E L A N D Spine Road EKU P HUM U L E N I EAST R I D G E GOO D H O P E In 2004, SAPS identiﬁed the need for a fourth police station in Makhaza, ILIT H A P A R K Khayelitsha. At the time of the

K H A YEL I T S H A Commission’s hearings, construction had TA F E L S I G M A N D E L A P A R K Lookout Hill U M R H A B U L O still not begun, despite it being a priority for T R I A N G L E the 2014/15 year. The Commission’s hearings took place in a Walter Sisulu Road hall which forms part of the Lookout Hill

Tourism Centre at the intersection of Mew H A R A R E K U Y A S A Way and Spine Road in Ilitha Park. E N K A N I N I Steve Biko Road I N F O R M A L SETTL E M E N T The suburban railway line runs diagonally across Khayelitsha in a south-easterly Mew Way direction, with ﬁve stations dotted along it, connecting residents with the Cape Town M O N W A B I S I The Harare station covers a more extensive city centre. area than its neighbouring Khayelitsha Mitchells E NDL O V I N I I N F O R M A L precincts, consisting of the bigger part of Plain SETTL E M E N T Macassar the Endlovini informal settlement as well Precinct Precinct as the neighbourhoods of Enkanini, Kuyasa and Makhaza. Baden Powell Drive

False Bay Khayelitsha ~ 3 To understand Khayelitsha is to city and to their partners (many of Life on the understand its history as an African whom were migrant labourers living in township on the outermost fringe of an single-sex hostels). Margins: The apartheid city. Its origins can be traced The ripple-effect of the 1976 back as far as 1955, the year in which Soweto Uprising added further impe- Origins of the Coloured Labour Preference Policy tus to the migration. But the Vorster (CLPP) was introduced, curbing government refused to yield, and, in Khayelitsha Africans – and particularly African 1977, turned its attention to regaining women – from entering the major control over South Africa’s unstable urban areas of the Cape Province. urban perimeters. The ‘Eiselen line’ (a demarcation In August of that year, tens of imposed by then-Secretary of Natives thousands of African men and women Affairs, Dr W. Eiselen) split the region were left homeless when bulldozers To understand into two parts. To the north-east lay demolished the informal settlements Khayelitsha is the rural poverty of the present-day of Modderdam, Unibel and Werkgenot Eastern Cape; to the south-west lay near Bellville, east of Cape Town. to understand the commercial hub of Cape Town Steve Biko’s death was soon to follow, and its affluent surrounds where coupled with the widespread banning its history as an new stringent mechanisms favouring and detention of Black Consciousness Whites and, to a lesser degree, Col- supporters. African township oureds, left thousands of Africans with Despite this heightened turmoil, no choice but to seek their livelihoods Crossroads, although only established on the outermost elsewhere. in 1975, had rapidly grown into a It was not until the economic boom vibrant and dynamic community. fringe of an of the 1960s and early 1970s that the Having been granted ‘Emergency apartheid city flow of rural migrants into Cape Town Camp’ status by the government, it fell again began to rise. This movement beyond the reach of the Bantu Admin- was initiated by a new generation of istration Boards, allowing its dynamic women, born beyond the Eiselen line, Women’s Committee to forge a strong who re-settled in informal areas like network among faith-based and anti- Crossroads and Nyanga, nearer to the apartheid organisations.

4 ~ Khayelitsha children, entered St George’s Cathe- dral and began praying and fasting for their right to live and work in the city. A stone’s throw from Parliament and Newspaper House, the protest soon attracted media attention worldwide. After 23 days, on 1 April, the government finally relented to the mounting pressure and Koornof agreed to grant 850 people immunity from arrest during the subsequent weeks of negotiations. Yet another year passed and still little had changed. While the government continued to oscillate between threats and concessions, right across the Cape Flats the residents defiantly stood their ground. But this breathing space was not One night in February 1983, in the Above: At the height of to last for long. As Crossroads grew township of KTC, a short distance from apartheid, Minister of into a symbol of resistance against Old Crossroads, hundreds of plastic Cooperation and Development apartheid, so the debate over its future shelters were erected by people who Dr Piet Koornof led the forced became more hotly contested. In were ‘legally’ living in Cape Town but removal of thousands of 1979, the newly-appointed Minister of had nowhere to stay. Almost immedi- Africans across the country. Cooperation and Development, Dr Piet ately, the dwellings were destroyed by Koornof, launched plans to establish a large cordon of police with dogs and ‘New Crossroads’ – a settlement situ- armoured vehicles. Still, however, the ated slightly further away from Cape people refused to leave. Town – with the promise of 2,575 new As tensions heightened, Koornof’s houses for African residents. response finally came in the form of On the face of it, the proposal repre- yet another unsatisfactory plan: to sented an encouraging departure from consolidate all “African squatters” into the CLPP. And yet many residents of a new “high density township”, situated ‘Old Crossroads’ remained ambivalent. on the remote eastern perimeter of Relocation was likely to involve docu- Cape Town, flanked by Mitchells Plain, mentation, which would inevitably put the N2 highway and the False Bay ‘illegal’ residents at an even greater coastline. risk of being exposed and evicted. The Housing would consist of simple, proposed plan thus seemed to be less ceilingless tin huts, valued at R1010 a pragmatic solution than a veiled in 1983, each erected on a 170m² plot. attempt to strengthen government Neither electricity nor cleaning facili- control over Africans. ties would be provided, only a bucket And indeed, over the next five years, for each hut, and for every four huts the government did little to alleviate a single communal tap. Construction these concerns. If Koornof was not began in May 1983. stalling for time or reneging on earlier And so, out of a fraught mix of racial commitments, the police and defence exclusion, political pressure, violence forces were launching wave upon and repression, Khayelitsha (isiXhosa wave of early-morning raids, arrests for ‘new home’) was born. For a brief and mass-deportations to the Ciskei period, it appeared relatively clean and Transkei. Living under the con- and organised, especially compared stant threat of forced removal, with Crossroads where violence residents of Crossroads, Nyanga and and poverty-related diseases had other neighbouring Cape Flats settle- dramatically increased. Yet, as history ments grew increasingly desperate. was soon to show, Khayelitsha was In March 1982, 57 women and men no better equipped for longer-term from Nyanga Bush, accompanied by 14 prosperity.

Khayelitsha ~ 5 6 ~ Khayelitsha Unlike slums or ghettos elsewhere Three months after its creation, in South Africa – and in particular Khayelitsha was home to 439 The trauma of these those scattered across the northern residents. Africans living in other, mining regions – Khayelitsha had not more established townships nearer to countless upheavals in any way been conceived as a coher- the city were still reluctant to move, was to leave an ent residential community associated however, fearful that if they did they with a distinct employment site. would be sent back to the homelands. indelible mark on Situated some 35 km away from The government, meanwhile, although the city centre, and linked to it by a beginning to accept that its influx con- the township’s rudimentary transport system, it was trol policies were failing in the Western destined to expand into a large-scale Cape, was not yet ready to loosen its collective psyche settlement of commuters whose daily grip on the African population. lives consisted of leaving home early, In mid-1985, when P. W. Botha getting home late, travelling under dif- had declared a State of Emergency ficult if not dangerous conditions and, across two-thirds of the country and Opposite page: A retail outlet in doing so, incurring expenses well hundreds of United Democratic (top) and a row of tin huts in beyond their means. As Helen Suzman Front-aligned activists were detained, Khayelitsha, c. 1983. observed in 1985: areas like Crossroads and KTC once “There is no direct bus or train from again became the focus of a ruthless Khayelitsha into Cape Town, and some government clampdown. blacks have to change buses twice to get into the city. It costs them about R3 a day for transport, and many of them are lucky if they earn R10 a day.” The result was one of the largest elected councillors and five residents forced removals ever to take place in appeared in court on the charges of Cape Town. Reluctantly, Khayelitsha murder and attempted murder. mushroomed. The government had Several months later, in response initially predicted that the settlement’s to a march organised by the Khayelit- population would not exceed 120,000, sha Civic Association, police fired on but by late 1985 only 5,000 two- protestors, killing at least ten and roomed huts had been constructed injuring over 50. All too quickly, brutal- and over 150,000 people were already ity – whether inflicted by the residents living in the area. themselves or by the police – became In many homes, the number of part and parcel of everyday life. residents far exceeded the intended The Commissioners Justice O’Regan occupancy. And after the ‘fires of 1986’ and Advocate Pikoli thus found ripped through Crossroads and KTC a there to be an enduring relationship year later, hundreds of homeless fami- between Khayelitsha’s troubled past lies turned up in Khayelitsha, clinging and the present-day dysfunctional on to their few remaining belongings. coexistence between the township’s The trauma of these countless police and residents. What grew out of upheavals was to leave an indelible the role played by the security forces mark on the township’s collective during the 1980s was a strong percep- psyche. tion among civilians that SAPS was In the years leading up to South complicit in provoking and sustaining Kate Ncisana and her daughter Nondumiso, Africa’s democratic transition, fierce social and political turmoil. pictured here in 1983, participated in the St political rivalries flared up in Khayelit- George’s Cathedral fast and were among sha. The first municipal elections Khayelitsha’s earliest residents. were bitterly contested, and in March 1990, eight of the township’s 20 The history imposes a particular burden on SAPS to demonstrate its fairness, even-handedness and respect for the residents of Khayelitsha in order Unlike police to win the trust of the services in other community. parts of the world, SAPS cannot draw on a reservoir of good will that historical acceptance of the legitimacy of police work creates.

~~ Justice Kate O’Regan and Advocate Vusi Pikoli

8 ~ Khayelitsha Top: African men and women left homeless near Nyanga after a pre-dawn raid in 1981. Bottom: Khayelitsha residents queue for treatment outside the Town Two Clinic in December 2013.

Khayelitsha ~ 9 Khayelitsha Today: Employment and Income In 2011, the ocial unemployment rate of Demographics and people aged 15 and above in Khayelitsha was Socio-economic 38% (35% for males and 41% for females). 68.8% In 2011, Khayelitsha’s median household 15 to 59 years income of R20,000 per annum was half that of Conditions Cape Town as a whole. With fewer resources to spare, security is thus an unaordable 3% luxury for most Khayelitsha families. Total residents Over 60 years Drawing on Census 2011 and other o cial in Khayelitsha 38% 50% 40% All residents aged 15 and above residents All old and men under 23 years Boys old and men under 26 years Boys data sources, Professor Jeremy Seekings in 2014 of UCT’s Centre for Social Science 28.2% Unemployment in Khayelitsha Research and leading demographer 0 to 14 years Professor Charles Simkins provided the Housing and Infrastructure Commission with facts and figures relating to Khayelitsha’s demographics Of approximately 119,000 households in and socio-economic conditions. R20,000 Khayelitsha, 52,000 live in formal housing (made from brick or concrete), 55,000 live Median household income per annum in shacks in the informal settlements, and 11,000 in backyard shacks and rooms. Demographics [ Half that of the median for Cape Town as a whole ] Khayelitsha accounts for almost one third of In 2011, Khayelitsha had between 370,000 the informal households in Cape Town. and 426,000 residents, and, in 2014, between ± Ba In 2011, 42% of households in Khayelitsha 400,000 and 450,000, reflecting an average 425,000 ck ya were headed by women. Over recent growth rate of just under 2% per annum. ng rd 98.7% of Khayelitsha’s population describe si S decades this percentage has arisen coun- Residents in Khayelitsha u ape h o ter C Town a trywide owing to the increased economic themselves as Black/African and 89.8% rea ) c [Approx. for 2014, showing a 2% H g k in s independence of women as well as chang- specify isiXhosa as their first language. annual increase since 2011] l s 9 a ld % & o ing marital and familial norms. Approximately 28.2% of Khayelitsha’s h R e residents are aged between 0 and 14 years, m s o u o r o m h 68.8% are between 15 and 59 years, and 3% o l

a Khayelitsha s are over 60 years. f m

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i Learners in 2014 H s o 56,362 u only 5% of households Residents who have 33 public primary schools 5% a tertiary qualiﬁcation have access to water Residents who have public secondary schools inside their dwellings. 50% not completed Grade 12 19 have no access In 2011, 8,000 households In Khayelitsha there are 33 public primary to piped water schools, 19 public secondary schools and a 65.4 % inside their homes small scattering of independent schools. in Khayelitsha reported Professor Simkins noted that approximately of all Khayelitsha households 20-22% of Khayelitsha’s population should do not have access to ﬂush using bucket toilets and be enrolled in school. This implied that the % toilets connected to township’s total enrollment was about 8% 28.3 the sewerage system 12,000 had no toilet at all below average.

10 ~ Khayelitsha Khayelitsha Today: Employment and Income In 2011, the ocial unemployment rate of Demographics and people aged 15 and above in Khayelitsha was Socio-economic 38% (35% for males and 41% for females). 68.8% In 2011, Khayelitsha’s median household 15 to 59 years income of R20,000 per annum was half that of Conditions Cape Town as a whole. With fewer resources to spare, security is thus an unaordable 3% luxury for most Khayelitsha families. Total residents Over 60 years Drawing on Census 2011 and other o cial in Khayelitsha 38% 50% 40% All residents aged 15 and above residents All old and men under 23 years Boys old and men under 26 years Boys data sources, Professor Jeremy Seekings in 2014 of UCT’s Centre for Social Science 28.2% Unemployment in Khayelitsha Research and leading demographer 0 to 14 years Professor Charles Simkins provided the Housing and Infrastructure Commission with facts and figures relating to Khayelitsha’s demographics Of approximately 119,000 households in and socio-economic conditions. R20,000 Khayelitsha, 52,000 live in formal housing (made from brick or concrete), 55,000 live Median household income per annum in shacks in the informal settlements, and 11,000 in backyard shacks and rooms. Demographics [ Half that of the median for Cape Town as a whole ] Khayelitsha accounts for almost one third of In 2011, Khayelitsha had between 370,000 the informal households in Cape Town. and 426,000 residents, and, in 2014, between ± Ba In 2011, 42% of households in Khayelitsha 400,000 and 450,000, reflecting an average 425,000 ck ya were headed by women. Over recent growth rate of just under 2% per annum. ng rd 98.7% of Khayelitsha’s population describe si S decades this percentage has arisen coun- Residents in Khayelitsha u ape h o ter C Town a trywide owing to the increased economic themselves as Black/African and 89.8% rea ) c [Approx. for 2014, showing a 2% H g k in s independence of women as well as chang- specify isiXhosa as their first language. annual increase since 2011] l s 9 a ld % & o ing marital and familial norms. Approximately 28.2% of Khayelitsha’s h R e residents are aged between 0 and 14 years, m s o u o r o m h 68.8% are between 15 and 59 years, and 3% o l

a Khayelitsha s are over 60 years. f m

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Khayelitsha ~ 11

The Eight Original Complainants

When the complainant organisations first wrote to Premier Zille in late 2011, attached to their letter was an appendix which described eight incidents of crime and police inefficiency in Khayelitsha. Having provided the initial impetus which fuelled the years-long campaign for a safer Khayelitsha, the victims in question were later referred to by the Commission as the ‘eight original complainants’.

13 In early 2006, Zoliswa Nkonyana, a Zoliswa’s loved ones then began Zoliswa young woman of 19 years and an what should have been a swift and activist working with the organisation decisive process of criminal justice. Nkonyana Free Gender, was living openly as a But, tragically, it would take another lesbian in Khayelitsha. six years before the murder trial was On the night of 6 February, she and concluded. some friends went to Phela’s Tavern, a Despite a campaign launched by popular drinking spot in E Section. five civil-society organisations – TAC, Zoliswa’s case After some time, a quarrel broke the SJC, Free Gender, the Triangle ended up being out at the bar between Zoliswa, her Project and Sonke Gender Justice friends, and some men and women, – Zoliswa’s case ended up being postponed an one of whom – according to Eric Nta- postponed an astonishing 45 times bazalila of Cape Town’s NPA – was the (43 of which were at the request of the astonishing 45 tavern’s patroness. “The argument,” accused and their lawyers). Ntabazalila later explained, “was about In 2008, the state failed to ensure times (43 of which Zoliswa and her friends wanting to use that witnesses were present at court. the ladies’ toilet while pretending to be When a photograph of the main state were at the request ‘tom boys’.” witness appeared in the press, she As tensions rose and the threats was attacked, causing her to flee to the of the accused and levelled at the lesbian women became Eastern Cape. their lawyers) more menacing, Zoliswa and one of In 2010, a SAPS sergeant was her friends decided to leave. A group arrested for aiding the escape of four of nine men between the ages of 17 of the accused from their holding cells. and 20 followed them. Whether the officer ever faced charges In a desperate attempt to flee, the has never been confirmed. Eventually, women were separated, and soon the Director of Public Prosecutions after the mob caught up with Zoliswa (DPP) attended the trial to ensure that outside a school on Zingisa Street. the prosecution was finalised. Witnesses later recalled that she was On 1 February 2012, four men were flung to the ground, kicked, stabbed convicted, and each sentenced to 18 repeatedly, and pelted with bricks. years’ imprisonment, four of which Gladwell Madindi, Zoliswa’s step- were suspended for five years. As father, was the first family member to Zackie Achmat, Director of NU and a reach the scene. He rushed Zoliswa co-founding member of TAC, testified to Site B Day Hospital but upon their before the Commission, two other arrival a doctor declared her dead. accused (who had been incarcerated until the trial ended) were released on the grounds that their initial statements were inadmissible. As minors, they should have been interviewed by SAPS in the presence of their guardians.

14 ~ The Eight Original Complainants Over recent years, the Cape Town Unfortunately, however, despite the Nokuzolo Metro Police, often in collaboration direct influence that both the City of with the City of Cape Town’s Anti-Land Cape Town and the Western Cape Gov- Mantshantsha Invasion Unit and Law Enforcement ernment have on safety and security in Department, has been involved in a Khayelitsha, the Commission’s terms number of illegal evictions and demoli- of reference precluded any further tions of homes in Khayelitsha. inquiry into these complaints. “ People routinely complain In January 2011, Ms Nokuzolo Man- In 2012, a group of senior SAPS about their property being tshanthsa noticed a large ‘X’ scrawled members were appointed by the late over her shack in Khayelitsha’s DT Lieutenant General Sean Tshabalala damaged, excessive use informal settlement. A few days later, (then Divisional Commissioner of of force, dozens of officers Metro Police and Law Enforcement the National Inspectorate) to inves- being present as a show of officers arrived and proceeded to tigate the complainants’ allegations. dismantle her home while carelessly Referred to by the Commission as the force and a complete lack destroying many of her fragile ‘Task Team’, it noted that Nokuzolo’s of communication around possessions like glasses and crockery. case had never been referred to what is happening and why. At no point did the officers explain SAPS. The DPP also indicated that the Children are often present to Nokuzolo why her home was being Senior Public Prosecutor (SPP) had no demolished. In breach of the Preven- knowledge of a complaint submitted during these demolitions tion of Illegal Eviction and Unlawful on Nokuzolo’s behalf. and evictions, and the Occupation of Land Act, the City failed psychological effects of seeing to provide her with a 14-day notice and alternative housing options. people tear down one’s home The complainant organisations is incredibly damaging. ” . drew the Commission’s attention to the illegal, disproportionate and often ~~ Letter from the complainants callous manner in which evictions and to Premier Zille, 2011 demolitions have been carried out.

The Eight Original Complainants ~ 15 16 ~ The Eight Original Complainants It was shortly after sunrise on 1 May However, neither Scare nor the SJC – Makhosandile 2010 when ‘Scare’ Qezo was relieving who, during this time, had been trying himself in the bushes beside the N2 to assist him – was notified, despite ‘Scare’ Qezo highway due to the lack of sanitation their repeated attempts to contact the in the nearby informal settlements. investigating officer. He was approached by two men who On 26 August, the accused demanded his cell phone. Before he appeared in court, where he was again had time to respond, one of the thieves released on bail of R500, having pro- stabbed him in the face, and in the duced a medical certificate confirming short scuffle that ensued, Scare’s that a head injury had prevented him hand was cut. from attending the previous hearings. Scare’s case was Clutching the cell phone while But because the investigating postponed 29 times attempting to flee, one of the assail- officer failed to turn up at court that ants was immediately caught by com- day, the magistrate had no idea that and concluded munity members who had witnessed Gwabeni was a flight risk. Thereafter the assault. The group proceeded to – as the Commission learnt from the almost 3 years beat the man, before handing him over DPP – the matter was postponed an to SAPS. astonishing 29 times. after he had been Two days later, the alleged attacker, As part of its subsequent docket Lonwabo ‘Lizo’ Gwabeni, was charged analysis, the Commission found that attacked with assault with the intention to the criminal trial was finally concluded cause grievous bodily harm. A week on 12 November 2012, more than two after this, after appearing in court, he and a half years after the offence had was granted bail of R500. Gwabeni been committed. Gwabeni was con- then failed to turn up at two consecu- victed and sentenced to five years in tive court hearings. prison, fully suspended for five years. After a warrant for his re-arrest was issued, Gwabeni was finally apprehended once more in late August, 2010.

17 On 8 April 2010, a seven-year-old boy The state then brought an application A young boy (whose name was withheld to protect for his bail to be revoked, which the his identity) was allegedly raped by magistrate upheld. from Taiwan, a neighbour in Taiwan Section, Site The complainant organisations C. At first, his family was assured by then alleged that on 20 September the Site C the state that the accused would not family were told that the docket had be released on bail. However, on 28 been lost and that the case, as a result, May, when the case came before the had been withdrawn. The accused was Khayelitsha Magistrate’s Court, bail free to go. was granted without any opposition Years later, it was revealed that a from the state prosecutor. social worker had declared the boy According to the complainant unfit to testify, prompting the SPP to organisations in their letter to the Pre- postpone the matter for reassessment mier, this decision was made despite in five years’ time. The Commission The family were told the knowledge that, after committing perused the docket but declined to the crime, the accused had allegedly comment as the investigation was still that the docket had threatened the boy with a knife. ongoing. Months later, when the accused The case was placed on the been lost and that returned to the neighbourhood, he ‘brought-forward’ system for April the case, as a result, threatened the victim and his family 2016. In his testimony at Lookout Hill once more, shouting that he would kill in February 2014, Joel Bregman of the had been withdrawn. them and set their house on fire. When SJC praised the investigating officer the boy’s father reported the incident assigned to the boy’s case, both for The accused was at the local police station, the charge her “concern and compassion” and for of intimidation – a breach of the her efforts to keep the victim and his free to go accused’s bail terms – was not added family informed of each development. to the existing docket, meaning that he could not be re-arrested.

18 ~ The Eight Original Complainants Orphaned in her infancy, Lorna finally convicted of crimes relating Lorna Mlofana moved to Cape Town from the to Lorna’s rape and murder. Then, in Transkei in her late teens. Settling in 2009, Ntumbukana appealed against Mlofana Khayelitsha, she chose to live openly his sentence of life (for murder) plus with HIV while teaching treatment an additional ten years (for rape). literacy as a member of TAC. Neither the family of the deceased nor On the night of 13 December 2003, TAC was informed of these events – Lorna and some friends were and shortly afterwards the accused at a shebeen in Town 2 after TAC’s was seen walking the streets as a free end-of-year celebrations. man. Witnesses later alleged that, in Perusing the docket, the Com- the early hours of the morning, she mission found that Ntumbukana’s was raped by a group of men in bloodied shoes had never been taken the shebeen toilet. When she then for forensic examination. The assail- revealed her status, one of the men, ant’s successful appeal resulted in his Ncedile Ntumbukana, was enraged sentence being reduced dramatically by the revelation. Together with an to eight years’ imprisonment, three accomplice, Vuyelwa Dlova, he began of which were suspended for five kicking and punching Lorna. years. Despite the fact that no refer- In an attempt to intervene, Lorna’s ence had been made to the shoes in friend Nomava Magisa was also the docket, as well as SAPS’s failure injured by the assailants. By the time to keep Lorna’s family informed of Lorna had reached a hospital, she was any developments, the Task Team declared dead. Just over two years concluded that the matter had been later, Ntumbukana and Dlova were properly investigated.

“ I remember Vuyiseka Dubula [Lorna’s friend and fellow TAC activist] telling me that when the body was found at Tygerberg Hospital they did not think to do forensic tests as to whether she was sexually assaulted because it looked like a truck had run over her body. That is how badly she was assaulted, and there was anger in the community and there was anger in TAC, and I remember … we marched from the shebeen where she was killed to the alleged perpetrator’s house, and people in the community and our own members would have burnt that place down if it wasn’t for the fact that we said we wanted justice – not vengeance – because we wanted the police to deal with it. People would have taken the law into their own hands, but what came afterwards was horror and travesty because … time after time after time, the case was postponed. ” ~~ Testimony of Zackie Achmat before the Commission 10 February, 2014

The Eight Original Complainants ~ 19 20 ~ The Eight Original Complainants At the age of 14, Nandipha Makeke, At large once more, Janet wasted Nandipha a learner at Uxolo High School in no time in threatening Nandipha’s Mandela Park, Khayelitsha, became TAC comrades. After one activist was Makeke a member of TAC. Four years later, stabbed and the home of another was in December 2005, she was brutally broken into, an interim protection raped and murdered by a group of order was obtained from the Cape young men in one of Khayelitsha’s High Court. communal toilets. When Mandla Nkun- On 7 March 2008 in the Khayelit- I will never forget the pain kuma, another TAC member, rushed sha Magistrate’s Court, Sibhozo and “ to the scene, one of the assailants, Ntukani were convicted of charges demonstrated on [Nandipha’s] a known gang leader named Yanga relating to Nandipha’s rape and elderly father’s face every time Janet, shot him in the back. murder. They were both sentenced to he had to go to court or … Soon after, TAC launched a cam- 20 years in prison. Although the Task when we had to address press paign to ensure that justice was Team found the matter to have been served against Nandipha’s murderers. properly investigated, the Commission conferences to talk about the Marches and pickets were organised expressed concern over the protracted fact that they were not getting outside courts and police stations, three-year delay. On many occasions, justice … Nandipha did not money was raised to support Nan- the case had been postponed owing to simply die a horrible death dipha’s grieving family, and on a daily the absence of dockets and witnesses. basis TAC activists called SAPS for Referring to the affidavit of the but her comrades … had to updates. Yet despite these efforts, the Provincial Commissioner, Zackie go in hiding when one of the road ahead was long and fraught with Achmat cautioned: “If General Lamoer perpetrators was released and obstacles. says that [the case] was ‘properly if we hadn’t used taxi drivers Four men were arrested and investigated’ then I think there is a charged with murder – Zukile serious problem in accepting culpabil- to help arrest him the police Fumbata, Bonga Sibhozo, Them- ity and trying to give immunity to the wouldn’t have arrested him binkosi Ntukani and Yanga Janet (who police or the criminal justice system even though there was a High received the additional charge of in general.” In his testimony, Achmat Court restraining order and a attempted murder). But in March 2006, added that at no point did SAPS visit warrant of arrest for him. . the docket relating to Janet’s shooting Nandipha’s family to inform them of ” of Nkunkuma went missing, resulting how the investigation and prosecution ~~ Testimony of Zackie Achmat in his and Fumbata’s acquittal. were progressing. 10 February, 2014

21 While in pursuit of a stolen car on the acknowledge. What’s more, neither Adelaide morning of Sunday 3 October 2010, Adelaide nor the SJC was informed of Khayelitsha SAPS members were the outcome of the investigation. Ngongwana shot at by the suspects they were Adelaide died in April 2011. 14 pursuing. Returning fire in a crowded, months later, the Task Team found public area, one of the police members that two dockets had been opened in mistakenly shot an elderly woman, relation to the incident, both of which Adelaide Ngongwana, in the leg. were poorly investigated – a verdict Unassisted and in excruciating pain, the Commission later corroborated. she managed to walk to the car of a The Commission’s analysis of the police officer who reluctantly agreed dockets revealed that the instructions The Commission’s to drive her to the Site B Day Hospital. of the supervising detective were Once treated and discharged, she had ignored and that neither a hospital analysis of the no money for transport so had no record nor statements from Adelaide choice but to limp home. and the relevant SAPS officers were dockets revealed Afraid to lodge a complaint against ever noted. the police with the Independent Under cross-examination during the that the instructions Complaints Directorate (ICD), Adelaide hearings at Lookout Hill, Thabo Leholo, agreed that the SJC would open a case the Western Cape Provincial Director of the supervising on her behalf. Over seven months later, of Investigations at the Independent a report was issued, concluding that Police Investigative Directorate (IPID), detective were the SAPS members had acted within undertook to investigate the matter ignored their rights. personally. His response, which the That they had discharged their Commission received on 4 April 2014, weapons in a busy public space, simply stated that the Provincial putting the lives of innocent civilians Commissioner had dealt with the at risk, and that they later behaved matter in terms of section 53(2)(a) of dismissively to an elderly woman the SAPS Act, concluding that “... the whom they were guilty of injuring, suspect first shot at the police and the were facts the report failed to police returned fire.”

22 ~ The Eight Original Complainants At about midday on 3 October 2010, at Outraged by these events, later Angy Peter the same time Adelaide Ngongwana that afternoon Angy and a colleague was being treated at the Site B Day from the SJC sought further informa- Hospital, Angy Peter, another Khayelit- tion from the Lingelethu West police sha resident, was travelling with station. At first, the SAPS members others in a taxi headed for the Site C insisted that they were none the wiser taxi rank. Suddenly, another taxi sped as the incident had involved policemen past theirs, followed by two police cars from another station – Khayelitsha in flat-footed pursuit. Site B. Angy, however, recognised one Angy later recalled that, from the of the policemen whom earlier that SAPS vehicles’ open windows, police- day she had seen outside the taxi rank. men were firing live ammunition at They then decided to visit SAPS in Policemen were the taxi, even though it was carrying at Site B, only to be told by a constable least one passenger. One of the bullets that the incident was not open for firing live amunition smashed into the taxi’s back window discussion. On their way out, the at the taxi, even as it was nearing the taxi rank. All activists passed family members of around, hundreds of panicked com- the taxi driver who had been arrested though it was muters ran for their lives. after the car chase. They told Angy When all of the vehicles, includ- that the suspect had just called them carrying at least one ing Angy’s taxi, came to a halt, she from the Site B station. Back inside, watched as a crowd gathered around they enquired once more, but this time passenger a young man, seemingly in his thir- a SAPS member replied that the taxi ties, who had been shot in the back. driver was not in the station. The police refused to let anyone go A moment later, however, he near him. Then another young man appeared. “Where are you going?” a approached the SAPS officers to say family member asked. “I’m just going that he too had been shot. outside,” he replied, but did not return. Half an hour later, an ambulance Despite this strange turn of events, the arrived to take the first of these men same constable maintained that the to hospital. Angy was then told that a suspect had been arrested and impris- third person had been shot at a nearby oned in the station’s holding cells. garage, and also required serious When a family member requested to medical attention. see him, the group was asked to leave. The SJC responded as it had done in the case of Ms Ngongwana – by lodging a complaint with the ICD. The two complaints both fell under the same reference number and, as previously mentioned, were dismissed seven months later on the basis that the SAPS members had been justified in using their firearms. Analysing the docket in June 2014, the Commission corroborated the Task Team’s finding that a SAPS member had initially been charged with attempted murder but that these charges were soon dropped owing to an incomplete investigation. In July 2011, the docket was returned to SAPS by the SPP with queries. The Commission expressed concern that the last entry on the docket – stating that further investigation was required – had been recorded in October 2012.

The Eight Original Complainants ~ 23 Khayelitsha Murders cases per 100 000 people In 2014/15 Khayelitsha as a whole had Crime Statistics more serious crimes committed than 79 34 any SAPS precinct in the country Greater Khayelitsha South Africa In working towards a safer Khayelitsha, it was important for the Commission to grasp, in quantitative terms, the threats affecting the community. In 2014/15, statistics showed that Khayelit-

sha as a whole (or what statisticians term * ‘Greater Khayelitsha’) had more serious crimes Attempted Murder Population (2011) Reported Reported GHB Assault Reported Aggravated Robbery Sexual Ratio Oences (per 100,000) Aggravated Ratio Robbery (per 100,000) Attempted Attempted Ratio Murder (per 100,000) GBH Ratio Assault (per 100,000) committed than any SAPS precinct in the cases per 100 000 people Reported Murders Reported Attempted Murders Sexual Oences Ratio Murder (per 100,000) country. ‘Serious crimes’ include murder and attempted murder, sexual offences, assault with Harare 173 342 141 120 235 610 867 81 69 136 352 500 the intent to cause grievous bodily harm, and aggravated robbery. Khayelitsha Site B 154 042 146 170 229 640 1 421 95 110 149 415 922 Jean Redpath of the University of the West- Lingelethu West 64 357 39 38 79 116 450 61 59 123 180 699 ern Cape’s Community Law Centre and crime 34 intelligence analyst Dr Chris de Kock testified 80 Greater Khayelitsha 391 741 326 328 543 1 366 2 738 79 80 136 316 707 that the murder rate is usually accepted as the Greater Khayelitsha South Africa most accurate measure of a precinct’s serious crime levels. Western Cape 5 822 734 3 186 3 727 7 369 26 200 23 116 55 64 127 450 397 Other crimes – and especially domestic, homophobic and gender-based violence, com- South Africa 51 770 560 17 805 17 537 53 617 182 556 129 045 34 34 104 353 249 mon assault and crimes perpetrated by gangs – are notoriously under-reported owing to many Aggravated factors such as intimidation and fear of reprisal. The Mthente survey, for instance, which was Robbery conducted for the purposes of the Commission cases per 100 000 people to gauge community attitudes, estimated that only 60% of crimes are reported in Khayelitsha.

The reality, then, is that even though SAPS * detectives in Khayelitsha are already over- Driving under the of alcohol inﬂuence or drugs Carjacking Ratio Arson (per 100,000) at residential Burglary Ratio premises (per 100,000) Driving under the inﬂuence or drugs Ratio of alcohol (per 100,000) Carjacking Ratio (per 100,000) Population (2011) Arson burned by their caseloads, the actual incidence at residential Burglary premises of crime is far worse. 707 249 Greater Khayelitsha South Africa Harare 173 342 23 600 375 86 13 346 216 50 “ The sheer volume Khayelitsha Site B 154 042 25 474 279 73 16 308 181 47 Lingelethu West 64 357 17 328 515 54 26 510 800 84 of work simply Carjacking Greater Khayelitsha 391 741 65 1 402 1 169 213 19 388 399 60 chased me away.” cases per 100 000 people Western Cape 5 822 734 782 47 783 13 224 1 530 13 821 227 26

~~ Former SAPS detective James van South Africa 51 770 560 5 127 253 716 68 561 12 773 10 490 132 25 der Westhuizen

25 * Population statistics for the Western Cape and South Africa have not been 60 updated to include post-2011 mid-year estimates. This is to ensure that they Greater Khayelitsha South Africa are consistent with the estimated Khayelitsha precinct data from 2011 Murders cases per 100 000 people In 2014/15 Khayelitsha as a whole had more serious crimes committed than 79 34 any SAPS precinct in the country Greater Khayelitsha South Africa * Attempted Murder * Population (2011) Population (2011) Reported Reported GHB Assault Reported Aggravated Robbery Sexual Ratio Oences (per 100,000) Aggravated Ratio Robbery (per 100,000) Attempted Attempted Ratio Murder (per 100,000) GBH Ratio Assault (per 100,000) Reported Reported Murders Reported Attempted Murders Sexual Oences Ratio Murder (per 100,000) Reported Reported GHB Assault Reported Aggravated Robbery Sexual Ratio Oences (per 100,000) Aggravated Ratio Robbery (per 100,000) Attempted Attempted Ratio Murder (per 100,000) GBH Ratio Assault (per 100,000) cases per 100 000 people Reported Murders Reported Attempted Murders Sexual Oences Ratio Murder (per 100,000)

Harare 173 342 141 120 235 610 867 81 69 136 352 500

Khayelitsha Site B 154 042 146 170 229 640 1 421 95 110 149 415 922 80 34 Lingelethu West 64 357 39 38 79 116 450 61 59 123 180 699 Greater Khayelitsha South Africa Greater Khayelitsha 391 741 326 328 543 1 366 2 738 79 80 136 316 707

Western Cape 5 822 734 3 186 3 727 7 369 26 200 23 116 55 64 127 450 397

South Africa 51 770 560 17 805 17 537 53 617 182 556 129 045 34 34 104 353 249 Aggravated Robbery cases per 100 000 people * * Driving under the of alcohol influence or drugs Carjacking Ratio Arson (per 100,000) at residential Burglary Ratio premises (per 100,000) Driving under the influence or drugs Ratio of alcohol (per 100,000) Carjacking Ratio (per 100,000) Population (2011) Arson Burglary at residential Burglary premises Driving under the of alcohol influence or drugs Carjacking Ratio Arson (per 100,000) at residential Burglary Ratio premises (per 100,000) Driving under the influence or drugs Ratio of alcohol (per 100,000) Carjacking Ratio (per 100,000) Population (2011) Arson 707 249 at residential Burglary premises Greater Khayelitsha South Africa Harare 173 342 23 600 375 86 13 346 216 50

Khayelitsha Site B 154 042 25 474 279 73 16 308 181 47

Lingelethu West 64 357 17 328 515 54 26 510 800 84

Carjacking Greater Khayelitsha 391 741 65 1 402 1 169 213 19 388 399 60 cases per 100 000 people Western Cape 5 822 734 782 47 783 13 224 1 530 13 821 227 26

South Africa 51 770 560 5 127 253 716 68 561 12 773 10 490 132 25

Testimonies: The Community

17 members of the Khayelitsha community spoke publicly at Lookout Hill. Their testimonies, often fraught with grief, despair and anger, described the criminal acts that they and their loved ones had suffered over recent years, while detailing the sometimes callous misconduct of SAPS members during the course of the investigations. These personal accounts – supplemented by almost 200 written statements from other community members – added an important human dimension to the Commission’s inquiry.

Based on community evidence, this chapter focuses on seven major challenges identified by the Commission – vigilantism, children and youth gangs, domestic violence, violence against LGBTI people, foreign nationals and xenophobia, alcohol and shebeens, and Community Police Forums – all of which shed light on the complainants’ allegations of police inefficiency and the breakdown in relations between SAPS and the community in Khayelitsha.

Testimonies: Many complex motives Vigilantism Several witnesses suggested that vigilantism is seen by certain members The Community When a community takes the law into of the community as a more effective its own hands in order to assault or kill means to reclaiming stolen property an alleged criminal without any inter- or seeking revenge for a more serious vention from the police, it is known as crime. vigilantism, a vengeance attack or an And yet, as Dr Gillespie and clinical act of mob justice. psychologist Professor Pumla Gobodo- Before the Commission, residents, Madikizela explained, the failures of police members and expert witnesses the Khayelitsha police – and the all drew attention to this widespread community’s lack of trust in SAPS problem, leaving little doubt that it – only account for a fraction of the remains one for which SAPS has no problem. clear strategy. Other contributing factors, they An enduring culture of violence argued, include the community’s shared anger towards its extreme Dr Kelly Gillespie, a social anthropol- levels of crime and poverty, and the ogy lecturer at Wits University, pointed feelings of anonymity, insecurity, out that in South Africa about 70 years exclusion and dehumanisation that ago the term vigilantism carried more characterise township life. positive connotations – referring to a form of ‘informal policing’. Crimes “committed by ghosts” By the early 1980s, however, at a Despite strong evidence that many time when the basic security of South of SAPS’s investigations have been African township residents was hardly poorly conducted, it is important to ever guaranteed by the government, note that crimes of this nature do pre- the word’s meaning had evolved to sent both the police and the prosecut- denote “violent, organised and con- ing authorities with unique challenges. servative groupings operating within Cases of vigilantism tend to involve black communities, often understood numerous defendants and, as Rochelle to be acting to ‘neutralise’ groups Harmse, SPP at the Khayelitsha Mag- opposed to the apartheid state.” istrate’s Court, confirmed, witnesses These past traumas, which live on rarely testify, usually owing to fear of in the minds of those who experienced – or solidarity with – the accused. them first-hand, have since been Several police witnesses explained transmitted from one generation to the that as soon as SAPS vehicles arrive at next, continuing to transform identities the scene of such an attack, the mob and influence Khayelitsha’s culture of immediately disperses, vanishing into violence. the densely-packed informal settlements. As Colonel Gert Nel (formerly of SAPS Harare) described, “It’s like it’s being committed by ghosts … no According to the one wants to step forward to say, ‘I can identify [the perpetrators].’ There Commission’s Mthente are just no witnesses. No one saw survey, 73.3% of respondents anything.” in Khayelitsha said that vigilantism was not justified

Testimonies: The Community ~ 31 “ Let me give you an example of what happened in my neighbourhood just We struggle to find jobs, and when we do, we this morning at 5.00am! We heard a work so hard to own the little things that give us a sense of dignity, and woman screaming “i-Bag yam! i-Bag then someone breaks into your house and yam! Nal’isela!!” (My bag! My Bag! steals it. Here’s a thief!!). In no time, I mean, It is like someone has stolen your no time, everybody was coming out, dignity. slamming doors behind them. I mean, it was like a split second – and they were all dressed in their clothes, not pyjamas. It was as if they were waiting, ready all night for exactly this kind of thing to happen. Then they descended upon this man – they came with all sorts of weapons to assault him. Rocks on the street were thrown at him. In no time, the man was gone – in no time they had finished him. Think about it, in a matter of a few minutes, perhaps seconds, a man is dead, killed by a group of people in my community for snatching a woman’s handbag on her way to work. Glancing at his body lying on the side of the street as I went to work, I saw a large concrete slab – you know those slabs used to divide freeway roads. A concrete slab had been thrown on the back of his head to finish him off. ” ~~ Khayelitsha resident (Interview conducted by Professor Gobodo-Madikizela, May 2014)

32 ~ Testimonies: The Community When you see people get robbed and people get raped, when you know the crime happened When you are to people that you know squashed into a and you see that person tight corner you actually getting beaten find fault with an up you don’t really feel easy target. sorry for them. Even though you wish they don’t Vigilantism is the beat him to death easiest, shortest but you hope, you option by people feel like, you’re that are in also so angry. desperation. I was robbed, my sister was raped.

Testimonies: The Community ~ 33 Nomamerika Simelela: Robbery Andile Ntsholo: At the scene of the crime, she rec- leads to death by stabbing Burnt to death in a field ognised people whom she had seen at the previous day’s meeting. The police Vigilantism, the Commission found, On 18 May 2012, Ms Nomakhuma visited her home the following day, but takes many forms. While most wit- Bontshi, and a handful of other after that she heard nothing about a nesses described the impulsive and relatives, were asked to attend a criminal prosecution. even irrational nature of some attacks, meeting at a house in B Section, When the Commission called for others indicated a greater degree of Khayelitsha. There, a group of people and examined the case docket, it premeditation. from Khayelitsha told them that Andile was revealed that the investigating Khayelitsha resident Ms Noma- Ntsholo, an orphan from Philippi and officer responded appropriately to the merika Simelela, together with her Nomakhuma’s nephew, was stealing call, but after conducting a series of uncle, Mr Mayedwa Simelela, testified cell phones and dealing drugs in their interviews and failing to find a single to having witnessed the vigilante kill- neighbourhood. As it was clear that eye-witness, the investigation was ing of two boys who had robbed them he posed a threat to children in the abandoned. of R2700, a cell phone and a jacket. local community, Nomakhuma and her The perpetrators were a large group relatives agreed to organise Andile’s of boys who pulled the thieves out removal from Khayelitsha. from the Simelelas’ car in 21 Section, In the early hours of the following Khayelitsha, then stabbed them to morning, she was then called and death. told that her nephew’s body had been Ms Simelela, her uncle and her found in a field in B Section. He had I was brother were later arrested in June been burnt to death. heartbroken … 2013 and charged with the murder of I was asking myself the question: why the two boys. After several remands, would people be so on 22 November 2013 the case was cruel? withdrawn. SAPS told the Commission that the investigation was still pending.

~~ Nomakhuma Bontshi Resident, Philippi

34 ~ Testimonies: The Community Mzoxolo’s Tame: After all three accused were After having been remanded four “Moered” in Ilitha Park granted bail, Mzoxolo heard nothing times by July 2013, in March 2014 more from the police, despite reassur- Mzoxolo managed to make contact Other stories painted SAPS’s incom- ances from the detective’s supervisor. with the investigating officer in charge plete investigations in a far less According to counsel for SAPS, the of the case. The officer informed him forgiving light. Mzoxolo Tame of Ilitha investigating officer who was origi- that blood samples had been sent for Park testified that, on the evening nally allocated to the case had been forensic analysis and that it would take of Sunday 20 January 2013, he was removed in April 2013 and replaced another four months. Since then he informed that his cousin might have with another officer described as has heard nothing. been killed in Harare the previous “probably the best and most success- night. ful investigating detective at Harare” He rushed to make an enquiry at – but he was inundated with 382 the Harare police station but was told pending dockets. The Commission found to come back the following day. When The Commission was informed that SAPS’s ambivalent and he did, the detective investigating the the matter had been scheduled for a crime said, “that lightie was caught disciplinary hearing, but by early 2014 inadequate policing to be with his body halfway through a win- no action had been taken. Although a contributing factor to dow of a house breaking in and was Mzoxolo’s contact details had been ‘moered’.” The three residents of the recorded on the docket, more than two vigilantism in Khayelitsha. house had been accused of the crime years had elapsed since the murder, Nevertheless, it was but, according to the officer, the “whole and the investigation was still pending. community” had participated. also acknowledged that Mzoxolo was also told that it would SAPS cannot address be a waste of money to go to court because his cousin had been caught this issue alone or even red-handed. quickly, given that acts of vigilantism are linked to Khayelitsha’s complex I felt that and troubled social the detective was not treating us with the respect that history, its poverty and its we deserved as a bereaved, grieving high levels of crime family.

He is a police official in the public service and ~~ Mzoxolo Tame I believe that he should be neutral Resident, Ilitha Park and sympathetic towards us.

Testimonies: The Community ~ 35 Psychological scars

Children and Youth While low levels of visible policing, Gangs half-hearted investigations and the rise of drug and alcohol abuse all contribute to the prevalence of youth For young people, exposure to violent gang activity, another key factor is the crime of the kind that terrorises culture of violence to which virtually Khayelitsha can be profoundly harm- every community member is exposed. ful. Of all the township’s residents, For young people, such experiences children are the most vulnerable – not can be damaging physically, psycho- only as the victims and witnesses of logically and developmentally. violence, but also, in some cases, as Professor Debra Kaminer, also perpetrators. Children and youths who of UCT’s Psychology Department, take part in criminal activity often do explained to the Commission that so as members of a youth gang. some children internalise their response to violence, resulting in post-traumatic stress disorder as well Protection and power as feelings of fear, anxiety and depression. Others externalise their response Expert witness Professor Catherine by projecting their trauma via aggres- Ward from UCT’s Psychology Depart- sive behaviour or substance abuse. ment explained that such gangs tend David Harrison, the former CEO to operate in deprived areas, offer- of youth development organisation ing boys and young men a sense of loveLife, added that without good- belonging. Many feel they have nothing quality health care during infancy, the better to do after school, she said; nurturing of a sense of worth among others join out of a need to defend teenagers, and a sound, efficient themselves. criminal justice system which prevents Mr Madoda Mahlutshana, the violence from becoming normalised in principal of the Chris Hani Senior Sec- a community, youth development can ondary School in Makhaza confirmed be severely restricted. this, testifying that his school “had a mini-museum” of weapons, frequently Phumeza Mlungwana: confiscated from learners who carry The vulnerability of learners them for protection. Yoliswa Dwane, the National Although only a small proportion of Chairperson of Equal Education and the community are directly involved, a resident of Site B, spoke of the across the Cape Flats thousands of four main youth gangs operating in children of a school-going age are Khayelitsha – the Vatos, the Vuras, the continually affected. Phumeza Mlung- Italians and the Russians. Each has its wana, the General Secretary of the SJC own territory within the township, but and a lifelong resident of Khayelitsha, their activities tend to be concentrated recalled that, as a child, while walk- in specific locations, such as Makhaya ing to and from school, she often had Park and a bridge in Site B near her lunch money taken from her at Masiyile High. They engage in robbery, knife-point. assault, kidnapping, rape and murder, The Commission also received and carry a variety of weapons from statements from a number of Khayelit- knives and pangas to firearms. sha principals, all of whom expressed Unlike the gangs in Manenberg and concern about youth gangs at their Mitchells Plain, Yoliswa added, those in schools. Their testimonies were Khayelitsha tend not to be connected corroborated by those of Khayelitsha to organised crime and drug syndi- parents whose children, they said, cates. Instead, their battles are waged were reluctant to go to school owing over territory, power and pride. to the violence and intimidation they were exposed to there.

36 ~ Testimonies: The Community In a survey conducted by Patrick Burton of the Centre for Justice and Crime Prevention, it was shown that most crimes experienced by young people are not reported to the police. One consequence is that the areas that the youth regard as dangerous do not correspond with those which the police regard as crime hotspots

Testimonies: The Community ~ 37 tHE eDUCATION dEPARTMENT CANNOT DO ANYTHING OUTSIDE A SCHOOL’S PREMISES. tHEIR RESPONSIBILITY IS THE SAFETY INSIDE. sO ON THE WAY TO AND FROM SCHOOL, IT’S IN THE POLICE’S HANDS. If the police don’t intervene then ‘sad luck’.

~~ Nokuzola Ncaphancapha Resident, Harare

38 ~ Testimonies: The Community Nokuzola Ncaphancapha: He tried to intervene, first via a social ‘I lost hope’ worker, then by pleading with his brothers, but the boys explained that In June 2012, Ms Nokuzola Ncaphan- they feared reprisals. capha went as far as enlisting her The police, when consulted, said 17-year-old son at another school. that they would be unable to assist. There, however, the same problems The local Neighbourhood Watch had soon arose, leading her to contact the fallen out of favour with the commu- school principal, the Western Cape nity after physically abusing people. Department of Education and the Fearing for his brothers’ safety, Sifiso then-station commander at Harare sent them to their mother’s ancestral police station, Colonel Abels. Nokuzola home in the Eastern Cape. was told by the Department that the problem was beyond its jurisdiction. After July 2012, the boy and his Sonja Basson: friends left their school. The following Child stabbed outside care centre that is year, he found a place at a safer school where in Makhaza but many of his friends did Sonja Basson, a social worker and I lost not. Nokuzola had also spoken to the former manager of The Bridge at hope. chairperson of the Harare CPF who Elukhuselweni Child and Youth Care had told her that, with a letter from the Centre near Khayelitsha’s Pama Road, South African National Civic Organisa- testified that some of the young boys tion (SANCO), she could seek help from living at The Bridge also had to be the Taxi Association. She was also told relocated for safety purposes. that the Harare police station was in On one occasion, a gang fight broke disarray – and that only 7 out of 19 out near the building, and one of boys members had been at work. When climbed out the window to get nearer asked if she had faith in SAPS, Noku- to the commotion. He was stabbed to zola replied frankly: “No, I don’t.” death by a gang member outside. A day later, when the police had still Sifiso Zitwana: made no arrests, members of the Taxi Fleeing for their lives Association arrived with sjamboks. Ms Basson recalled: “I had to physically Other Khayelitsha residents have gone run and hold onto the taxi to get them to even greater lengths to protect to stop because they wanted to attack their loved ones. In 2011, when Sifiso any male youth who could possibly be Zitwana became head of his family a gangster and they were threatening household at the age of 17, his young- boys under my care as well. The taxi er brothers were becoming deeply driver and the three men with him embroiled in local youth gangsterism. were so worked up they looked crazy.”

While the Commission found that SAPS has no clear strategy to address the growing problem of youth gangs in Khayelitsha, it acknowledged that the issue can only be helped by forming multi-sectoral partnerships between SAPS, educational institutions and youth-orientated NGOs

Testimonies: The Community ~ 39 Ms ND: ‘Helpless and traumatised’

Domestic Violence The Commission heard that the husband of one community member, Crime statistics show that domestic Ms ND, had beaten and raped her violence is the third most common repeatedly, until she finally secured cause of murder in South Africa. It a protection order against him. This usually occurs behind closed doors – proved of little use, however, because within the confines of a domestic set- whenever Ms ND called the Harare ting – and in the vast majority of cases police, they would only arrive the it involves a male intimate partner or following day. family member behaving abusively or Eventually she resorted to call- threateningly towards a female. ing ‘112’ instead. Her husband then retaliated by locking Ms ND and her Physical, psychological and children in the house, then going to pervasive the police station himself. The police Violence can be inflicted physically (for later intervened, rescuing the captive instance, in the form of assault, rape family, taking Ms ND to Khayelitsha’s or murder) or psychologically (through Thuthuzela Care Centre and arresting I felt very verbal abuse, harassment, humiliation, her husband. Soon after, however, he helpless and was released on R500 bail. traumatised. I do forced isolation or the destruction of not understand property). When the matter went to court, Ms what happened to Decades of research have shown ND was given no information. After my case. that domestic violence usually arises one of her husband’s court appear- ances he visited Ms ND to thank her out of complex gender-based power My husband is relations, often exacerbated by unbri- for dropping the case against him. back at home and dled anger, aggression, substance She tried to contact the investigating I am very scared abuse and the perpetrator’s socio- officer but he was always either on of him. I tried to economic circumstances. leave or too busy to call back. protect myself with Ms ND then turned to the Rape a protection order, Professor Lillian Artz of UCT’s but that has not Gender, Health and Justice Research Crisis Centre whose staff later dis- worked. Unit told the Commission that although covered that the police officer who domestic violence is pervasive across had arrested her husband had South Africa, it remains difficult to signed the wrong forms, quantify. leading to the matter In South African law, it is still not being withdrawn. categorised as a criminal offence, but instead as either an assault or an assault with the intention to cause grievous bodily harm. Many cases also go unreported – owing to a wide range of factors from stigma and intimidation to a tendency among the police to refer cases directly to the Magistrate’s Court without recording them. Professor Lisa Vetten, an expert in domestic violence legislation, quoted statistics from a 2007 SAPS report to Parliament which revealed that of the 45,454 domestic violence incidents that were reported in South Africa between January and June of that ~~ Ms ND year, only 17,633 resulted in a criminal Resident, Harare charge.

40 ~ Testimonies: The Community In a study conducted by the community-based organisation Mosaic in 2008 involving 365 victims of domestic violence in Khayelitsha, Bellville and Wynberg, only 19% reported being told by SAPS that they could lay a criminal charge, and in just 5% of cases was the offender arrested

I do not understand how the police and the court have allowed the case to be dismissed, and for my husband to just move back into my house, just because of a lack of a signature on a form. They have my statement and my daughter’s statement.

Testimonies: The Community ~ 41 Ultimately the Commission found that, in not complying with the provisions of the Domestic Violence Act or National Instruction 7/1999, SAPS members in Khayelitsha had failed to provide the required policing services to complainants

I have a great fear that my husband is going to increase his drunkenness as we are approaching the festive season. I always call the police whenever he assaults me and the police always arrest him at night but release him in the early hours of the morning.

~~ Nomfanekiso Ntsilane Resident, Kuyasa

42 ~ Testimonies: The Community Nomfanekiso Ntsilane: himself to pursue them. Finding one Living in fear of them at a tavern in Gugulethu he On the day Nomfanekiso Ntsilane called the police and the man was testified before the Commission, she arrested. When the case appeared was still in pain from a recent attack in court, however, the docket was by her husband. Although previously missing and he was released. charged and arrested, he had been At the time of the Commission’s released a month later. On the day of hearings, four years on, the matter his trial in November 2012, the court remained unresolved. told Nomfanekiso that the docket was missing, and that the case was Callous non-compliance therefore postponed until January 2013. When she testified over a year Section 2 of the Domestic Violence Act later, he was still at large. imposes specific duties on the police. SAPS’s failure to comply with this Welcome Makele: legislation leaves victims vulnerable to further acts of violence. Perpetrators on bail I fear that one Once a complainant has reported a morning he may In 2010, some young women who crime, SAPS is obliged to shelter her come and kill me from any threat, help her to obtain and my children had been raped approached the while sleeping at SJC asking for help. Having been medical treatment, provide her with our home. arrested, the alleged perpetrators had written information relating to her been released on bail and were now rights, send a court notice to her threatening the women who had laid abuser, confiscate any weapons in his the rape charges. possession, administer a protection Welcome Makele, one of the SJC’s order against him, arrest him if he community support officers, called a violates it, and accompany the com- detective on their behalf but initially plainant to her home so she can safely nothing was done about it. His per- collect her personal items. sistence led to the case reaching the But, in reality, these obligations Magistrate’s Court, where their bail are rarely carried out. In Professor conditions were withdrawn. Vetten’s experience, many SAPS At a second hearing, the men officers regard reports of domestic failed to attend. When they then violence as “a nuisance” and “not a threatened the victims once proper crime”, preventing them from more, Makele took it upon “getting on with the real crimes of murder and cash-in-transit heists.”

Evidence suggested that in many cases perpetrators had been arrested and then released the following day, while court orders were ignored, which put the relevant victims at further risk of violence

Testimonies: The Community ~ 43 The Commission found compelling evidence Foreign Nationals and to suggest that there are SAPS members Xenophobia who lack an ethic of courtesy and respect “This is my South Africa. This is towards the community – particularly in their not your country.” interactions with foreign nationals living and ~ SAPS officer (to a foreign national), Khayelitsha working in Khayelitsha

As two brutal outbreaks of xenophobic specialises in refugee rights, showed Phumeza Mlungwana recalled violence have shown, first in 2008 then that there are high levels of dissat- an incident in 2012, when a Somali- again in early 2015, foreign nationals isfaction towards the police among owned spaza shop was raided by are a vulnerable minority in South Somalis, Burundians and Eritreans in police without a search warrant. Under Africa. Often trying to build new lives Khayelitsha. the pretext of a weapons search, and on the fringes of our society, refugees, Many complained of secondary using gloves to avoid fingerprint detec- asylum-seekers and immigrants pre- victimisation – including the theft of tion, they destroyed property, stole sent an easy target, both for criminals their goods – by SAPS members. One R5000 in cash and R2800 in airtime and wayward police members. trader recalled being threatened by a vouchers, and physically assaulted the police officer: “If you don’t give me a shop owner. Foreign nationals in Khayelitsha cool drink the shop will be closed.” Although the victims were intimi- dated by the threat of further assaults, Some 20 years ago, Khayelitsha’s Shop owners under threat a case was later opened at the Harare population of foreign nationals con- Police Station. The SJC followed up on sisted mainly of Angolan and Congo- Several witnesses verified these the investigation with the Cluster Com- lese refugees. Today, the majority are claims. Yoliswa Dwane testified that mander for the area, Major General Somalis and Ethiopians who work as she had seen SAPS members casually Ndlovu, but to date no one has been traders in small spaza shops across seizing food and drinks from spaza charged. Cape Town. Although the precise shops owned by foreign nationals. number of foreign nationals living in Khayelitsha is unknown, a 2011 census estimated that as many as 2,477 were residing in the area, constituting at least 0.6% of the population. It shocked me Although precise statistics are when I saw it once, but then I saw difficult to determine, it is clear that, it again and again in Khayelitsha, spaza shops owned by and again, where the police just foreign nationals are overwhelmingly come into a shop, a targeted by criminals. Crime intel- Somali shop, ligence officers at the Khayelitsha Site B police station have calculated that they don’t 96.5% of the community’s reported do that with Xhosa owners business robberies affect foreign but they do traders – 40% of which also involve that with charges of murder or attempted Somalis. murder – even though they constitute only half of the precinct’s storeowners.

Vicki Igglesden: Victims of their protectors

The Commission was only able to ~~ Yoliswa Dwane interview foreign nationals ‘off record’ National Chairperson, owing to their fear of victimisation. Equal Education A survey presented by Ms Vicki Igglesden, a social anthropologist who

44 ~ Testimonies: The Community The Commission came to the same conclusion, Violence against LGBTI finding that such discriminatory behaviour by People the police towards LGBTI people and foreign The tragic story of Zoliswa Nkonyana, nationals indicated deeply-held homophobic as described on page 14, is a powerful reminder that lesbian women living and xenophobic attitudes that prevail within in working-class areas are extremely vulnerable to violent hate crimes. SAPS. Clearly, the police have a special This is also true for homosexual men, responsibility to protect and respect these as well as bisexual, transgender and intersex people. members of the community, particularly given Phumeza Mlungwana of the SJC their acute vulnerability drew the Commission’s attention to a study, conducted by Human Rights Watch, in which black lesbians and transgender men living in informal Funeka Soldaat: members, described to the Commis- areas are shown to be among the Culture of fear and silence sion how members of the LGBTI com- most marginalised and vulnerable of munity have not been treated with the South Africa’s LGBTI community. Free Gender is an organisation same degree of concern and respect operating in Khayelitsha that seeks as heterosexual complainants. “They call us ‘girl-man’” to promote and defend the rights of In 2012, one of her colleagues the lesbian and bisexual community. attempted to lodge a complaint of It should come as no surprise to Funeka Soldaat, one of its founding rape, only to be mocked by the SAPS SAPS members – who already have a members she consulted. Funeka constitutional responsibility to protect added that certain SAPS members and uphold the dignity of all citizens, They call us “exhibit extreme aversion to the LGBTI ‘girl-man’, ‘woman regardless of sex, gender or sexual man’, they don’t people who report crimes or visit orientation – that the LGBTI commu- know what a police stations … This has the effect nity may call upon them for protection. lesbian is of discouraging LGBTI people from And yet, the same report by Human reporting crimes to the police.” In an Rights Watch also noted that, while affidavit submitted to the Commission, reporting crimes, LGBTI people another woman wrote: have been subjected to “I do not feel safe in Khayelitsha, ‘secondary victimisation’ by but my life is in Khayelitsha and there police officers. As a black is nothing I can do about the crimes lesbian from Khayelitsha against us and the way in which the explained: police treat our cases. I am more wor- ried about the younger generation of lesbians, who have had things – violent things – happen to them, but keep You don’t want quiet, because they know the police to go to the police if something will not help them.” happens to you, Free Gender complimented the especially when you’re a lesbian, attitude of those officers in SAPS who especially if you are in “the higher ranks” – a comment use the name ‘lesbian’. validated by SAPS’s commitment to protect vulnerable citizens, which it They look at entered into after engaging with Free your chest. You see in their face, Gender. Ms Soldaat also noted, there’s something however, that despite this progress, on their face that says ‘freak’. the attitudes of many other SAPS members remain unashamedly abusive towards LGBTI people.

Testimonies: The Community ~ 45 television, DVD player and cell phones. When called, a large Alcohol and Shebeens contingent of police arrived at her My family is still “I think for us at the Khayelitsha home. During their investigation it saying that if the was found that Lethabo had been law cannot take its Court we dread when public murdered, his body dumped near course then they holidays come because invariably Monwabisi Beach, by a group of want to avenge my you will find more assaults, you men who were friends of his new son’s death. will find on a Monday morning girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend. At first, as Beauty recalled, the you have more murders than you I have case had been handled efficiently – told them that have on any other day during the SAPS had the names and addresses they must calm week and even looking at those of the murderers, and five suspects down because I have matters there’s a very large were promptly charged. But when heard of another the first detective handed over the place which is called percentage where it is alterca- case to another, the investigation the Commission. tions that occur whilst people ground to a halt. By the time Beauty were drinking together or there’s testified at the Commission, she had an altercation at a shebeen and still heard nothing. for now I am After counsel for SAPS agreed to still in that people are not, you know, within Commission and I am make enquiries on Beauty’s behalf, just waiting to hear their full senses and reactions the Commission was informed that what is going to lead to people assaulting each the case had been enrolled at the happen. other and assaulting each other Western Cape High Court and would be heard on 14 February 2014. in a violent manner.” Beauty subsequently phoned the Commission to say that although the ~~ Testimony of Rochelle Harmse matter had been postponed she was SPP, Khayelitsha Magistrate’s Court aware of the next court date. 6 February 2014

Statistics have shown a high cor- ~~ Beauty Thosholo relation between alcohol abuse and Resident, Site B the prevalence of contact crimes like domestic violence, rape and murder. During the Commission’s hearings, when Khayelitsha’s community and police members described serious criminal activity, alcohol featured prominently as an exacerbating factor.

Beauty Thosholo: “None of my family members are okay”

Ms Beauty Thosholo, a resident of Site B, testified that on the night of 9 November 2010 she had been at home with her 14-year-old daughter, Thandi, and 22-year-old son, Lethabo, when six or seven people carrying glasses filled with alcohol forced their way into her house, produced a firearm, then dragged Lethabo to their car and left. Beauty ran to her brother’s house for help. She later discovered that the kidnappers had also stolen her

46 ~ Testimonies: The Community Given that the City of Cape Town’s Metro Police has the authority to enforce trading hours as well as trading licenses, the Commissioners also acknowledged that the responsibility of developing an appropriate strategy to deal with licensing and alcohol regulations falls beyond the mandate of SAPS, thus urging the provincial government to address the matter urgently

Testimonies: The Community ~ 47 Paramilitary ‘swoops’ While agreeing that alcohol is a A major challenge that SAPS faces in combating alcohol-related crime is the abundance of illegal shebeens which key driver of violent crime, the are scattered across Khayelitsha and other working-class areas. Commission concluded that Major General Peter Jacobs, the West- ern Cape’s Deputy Provincial Com- SAPS’s swoop operations only missioner responsible for Operational Services, estimated that Khayelitsha serve to strain relations further has about 1,400 unlicensed shebeens. Thys Giliomee, the Chief Executive between the police and the Officer of the Western Cape Liquor Authority, explained that the police manage unlicensed liquor outlets in community accordance with Section 252A of the Criminal Procedure Act. To fulfill these obligations, they often conduct paramilitary operations (known as ‘swoops’), allowing them to catch illegal traders and their customers in the act. Giliomee added that prosecutors have a tendency ~~ Phumeza Mlungwana not to take liquor-related matters seriously; and because start-up General Secretary, SJC costs for these enterprises are very low, replacements usually spring up as soon as existing outlets are closed down.

48 ~ Testimonies: The Community CPFs in Khayelitsha Promising on paper

Community Police At Lookout Hill, some Khayelitsha Although CPFs have not generally been Forums community members praised CPFs a comprehensive success in South for responding to crimes quicker than Africa, the Commission found that they SAPS, while others were more critical. remain essential to achieving safer To earn the trust of South Africa’s Bishop Mtsolo, a Khayelitsha working-class communities. Black population after 1994, it was resident since 1990 and the National Hanif Loonat and Faisel Abrahams, essential for SAPS to renounce the Presiding Bishop of the Litha Method- two experienced CPF members who harsh authoritarian style of policing it ist Church of South Africa, complained have served on the Provincial Board, had adopted during apartheid, while that the local CPFs are “ineffective”. explained that the Western Cape has finding new ways to forge a stronger, Ms Nontuthuzelo Mtwana, a Safety been more successful than other more collaborative relationship with Coordinator with Violence Prevention provinces in establishing CPFs. the general public. through Urban Upgrading (VPUU) said Mr Loonat spoke of the need for Integral to this process were CPFs, they were “politically dominated”. CPFs to be supported by Street Com- designed by legislators to facilitate And SJC staff member Joel Breg- mittees, Neighbourhood Watch teams the constructive engagement of SAPS man, who engaged extensively with and Sector Forums. Demonstrating members with community representa- CPFs in the build-up to the Commis- their potential, he and Mr Abrahams tives. In Khayelitsha almost 20 years sion, recalled feeling “a sense that the recalled an initiative held in Khayelit- later, however, the Commission was CPFs had been co-opted … that they sha during the 2012 Easter weekend. alarmed to find that these institutions lacked independence but also that the In an attempt to reduce crime, a gath- are barely operating. police didn’t respect the structures ering of Neighbourhood Watch teams and didn’t provide them with the organised patrols to support SAPS. support that they required to carry out The exercise, they said, was a success: their jobs.” during the 2011 Easter weekend, there When CPFs are supposed to had been 23 murders in Khayeltisha; have meetings in 2012, only one. they’re irregular or they never take place ... The Commission and when they do happen people waste found that CPFs were time defending themselves instead of tackling and being undermined by discussing positive ways forward. political contestation (among and between CPF and SAPS members); poor leadership, planning and attendance; as well as a lack of monitoring, funding and resources.

Testimonies: The Community ~ 49

SAPS: Structures and Functions

SAPS is a huge organisation. Its total staff contingent – some 200,000 in number – is large enough to populate a small city. Given the complex nature of their work, all members of SAPS must adhere to a detailed system of compliance and oversight, based on principles that are enshrined in our Constitution.

Before dealing with the testimonies of the police, it is first important to understand the structures, functions, ranks and codes that exist within their organisation. This section begins with SAPS’s organisational structure before turning to its functions at different levels of management, and finally to the ranks of its personnel and its code of conduct.

51 SAPS : Organisational Related institutions

Structure Civilian Secretariat Independent Police Community Police Forums Investigative Directorate In 2011, legislation was enacted to In 1994, legislators were presented introduce the Civilian Secretariat for The Independent Police Investigative with the formidable task of trans- Police, a national advisory body Directorate (IPID), formerly known as forming the South African police When South Africa’s interim Constitution came primarily tasked with providing the the Independent Complaints from oppressors to protectors in the into eect in 1994, a single national police Minister of Police with research Directorate (ICD), was established as public mind. CPFs, introduced via relating to policy, strategy and police section 19 of the SAPS Act, were a service was established, amalgamating the 11 a national entity (with provincial performance. oces) in April 2012. key component of this approach. apartheid-era policing agencies which were Given the importance of the Civilian Its function is to investigate They were created under the formerly dotted across the self-governed Secretariat in the context of the complaints lodged by the provincial auspices of the Provincial Commis- territories and homelands (each with its own Commission’s mandate, every eort executive in connection with alleged sioners and made up of elected was made from as early as Septem- police misconduct or any oences voluntary community representa- uniform, ranking system and conditions of ber 2012 to secure its participation tives as well as the local station service). A year later, with the passing of the committed by SAPS members. in the proceedings. Initially, however, These include: the mistreatment of commander (whose responsibility it ‘SAPS Act’ (Act 68 of 1995), the South African the Secretariat joined the Minister of suspects in custody; the unlawful is to schedule regular meetings). Police Service – as it is known today – came Police in his bid to set aside the discharge of ﬁrearms; systemic Each CPF provides a platform on into being. Commission’s establishment – only corruption; and the rape, assault or which residents and SAPS members later agreeing to cooperate once the murder of any person by a police can engage and collaborate. Constitutional Court’s verdict had ocer, whether on or o duty. been handed down in late 2013. In the course of its investigations, Right: ‘Wachthuis’, the SAPS IPID has the power to enter, search, national head oce at 231 seize and arrest. Pretorius Street, Pretoria Central.

National Headquarters

The national head oce of SAPS—or ‘Wachthuis’, as it is known among police—is a wide, nondescript building easily overlooked in the Stations heart of Pretoria. Behind its narrow, tinted Cluster of ces windows, some 2,000 public servants are at For a victim of crime, the first port of call is a work, administering and instructing almost Every SAPS station falls within a ‘cluster’ of SAPS station. Here, under the management of a 198,000 SAPS personnel nationwide. Provincial of ces neighbouring precincts. The Western Cape’s 150 station commander, dockets are opened, From Wachthuis to the provincial oces to the stations are divided into 25 clusters, each registers and records are kept, investigations cluster oces and finally to the individual police All of South Africa’s nine provinces have their managed by a cluster commander, a cluster and patrols are launched, and suspects are stations, commands issued in the name of the own SAPS provincial oce. In each of these, the detective commander and a cluster visible questioned. It represents the frontline of SAPS Minister of Police or the National Commissioner highest-ranking ocial is the Provincial policing commander, who together are service delivery, both in terms of policing and are passed down the ranks in the form of Commissioner, who reports directly to the responsible for overseeing the day-to-day community relations. regulations, national instructions, standing National Commissioner and works closely with operations of the stations within their cluster. At the time of writing, there were 1,137 SAPS orders and policy guidelines. The head oce is five Deputy Provincial Commissioners who Established in 2009, the Khayelitsha cluster stations in South Africa. Each station’s precinct is also where country-wide audits are conducted, specialise in areas such as operations, oce has eight stations under its jurisdiction: further divided up into ‘sectors’ – smaller resources are allocated, crime statistics are resources, crime intelligence and detectives. Harare, Lingelethu West, Khayelitsha Site B, geographical areas which allow for a more consolidated, and the performance of each and In the Western Cape, the provincial oce Macassar, Lwandle, Somerset West, Gordon’s Bay focussed approach to crime prevention and every station is assessed. oversees more than 21,000 SAPS members. and Strand. community engagement.

52 ~ SAPS: Structures & Functions SAPS : Organisational Related institutions

National Headquarters

SAPS: Structures & Functions ~ 53 SAPS: Functions

National level The failure to Performance Evaluation practice cannot be blamed for the combat serious breakdown in the relationship between Gauging organisational performance the community and SAPS, it recom- crime in informal is an important function of the national mended that the “regular and timely office. Since the 1990s, SAPS has release of crime statistics can foster areas implicates utilised a sophisticated performance good relations” between SAPS and the chart system known as the EUPOLSA broader community. not just the Index to determine whether its sta- visible police and tions and units are adhering to their Crime Administration System (CAS) constitutional mandates. detectives who The Commission was concerned When crimes are reported to SAPS, that the performance chart is based on data capturers enter all the relevant confront it on a data drawn on a monthly basis from information using a national electronic a number of SAPS databases, none of system for crime administration. For daily basis, but which ultimately has any guarantee of each case, a ‘CAS number’ is gen- accuracy. erated for reference purposes. It officers at every Another mechanism with a similar includes the name of the police station objective to the performance chart is at which the crime was reported, a level of SAPS the Performance Enhancement Pro- number allocated consecutively on a cess (PEP) which, also administered monthly basis, and the month and year by the national head office, evaluates in which the crime was reported. the performance of individual SAPS members. Human Resources Conducted three times a year and based on written appraisals and When the national office allocates supervision, the PEP rating system human resources to stations across consists of a five-point scale, where 1 the country, the process begins with is the lowest rating and 5 is the high- the Theoretical Human Resource est. The Commission found the PEP to Requirement (THRR), an estimate be largely inadequate at differentiating based on each station’s reported crime between good and bad performers rates and the environmental factors (because 96% of those who take part that either facilitate or impede its tend to score 3 out of 5). members’ performance. The THRR, however, hardly ever Crime Statistics matches the number of fixed posts allocated to each station – a number In September every year, SAPS pub- known as the Resource Allocation lishes crime statistics for each of its Guide (RAG) – which varies according police stations covering the period 1 to the station’s performance-based April–31 March of the preceding year. classification. The practical conse- This means that by the time crime quences of the RAG are dealt with in statistics are released to the public more detail on page 66. they contain data that is between six and eighteen months out of date. While the Commission found that this

54 ~ SAPS: Structures & Functions Provincial level Station level

Two crucial functions of SAPS at Every station’s staff complement Detective Branches provincial level are on-site inspections serves three main functions: visible and the handling of complaints. policing (VISPOL), crime investigation Detectives, who usually wear plain (at the Detective Branch) and Support clothes, do not work according to a Provincial Inspectorate Services. Each of these is controlled by shift system. Based in the police sta- a commander who in turn reports to tion’s crime office or Detective Service Of particular importance to the Com- the Station Commander. Centre (DSC), they are responsible for mission’s mandate was the Western investigating and detecting crime. Cape’s Provincial Inspectorate – the Visible Policing This includes screening dockets, department responsible for regular interviewing complainants, attend- inspections of all the province’s VISPOL members wear police uni- ing to reported crimes, conducting police stations. The officers tasked forms and work 12-hour rotating crime scene management and the with conducting an inspection are not shifts, usually for four days per week. subsequent investigations, record- legally obliged to notify the relevant They manage police cells, conduct ing evidence in the case docket, and station commander of their visits – but sector patrols and provide security to ensuring that dockets are delivered to in most cases they do. courts situated within their station’s the prosecution service and courts. precinct. Provincial ‘Nodal Point’ They also staff the Community Support Services Service Centre (CSC): a room near the According to Standing Order 101, station’s entrance in which community Support services are responsible every police station, unit or component members can engage with SAPS for human resource management, of SAPS should have an electronic members – either in person or by finance, physical resource manage- database for all complaints lodged phone call – in order to report a crime ment and supply chain management. against its members. Officers assigned or have their documents certified. Most large police stations will also to each case are expected to complete In the CSC, VISPOL members have a Crime Intelligence Officer (CIO) their investigation within 19 days. open dockets and manage a range whose functions include: analysing In order to counter what she of registers and records, the most dockets, statistics and case linkages; described as a “void” in the manage- important of which is the Occurrence mapping crime trends; assessing ment of complaints, in 2010 Major Book (or OB) in which all crimes, and fieldwork; and briefing or debriefing General Sharon Jephta, the Western other matters requiring investigation, the VISPOL staff. Cape’s Deputy Provincial Commission- are supposed to be recorded. er for Operations, developed a central- All registers must be checked daily Reservists ised system by which all complaints as part of a “first-level inspection” Until 2010, SAPS stations supple- are captured and monitored at one by either the CSC commander or the mented their personnel by recruiting, provincial ‘nodal point’. relief commander. They should also training and paying ‘reservists’ – all be checked weekly in a “second-level of whom were volunteers from the inspection” conducted by either the local community. Later the same year, station commander or the VISPOL however, a moratorium was imposed, commander. introducing a certification process and terminating all forms of remuneration.

SAPS: Structures & Functions ~ 55 SAPS : SAPS: with integrity, render a Ranks Code of Commissioned General responsible and effective National Commissioner Conduct service of high quality which is Ocers Lieutenant General accessible to every person and In March 2010, SAPS reverted to Senior Management Deputy National Commissioner its original, apartheid-era military Divisional Commissioner continuously strive towards The members of the South ranking system. These titles are Provincial Commissioner improving this service as follows: African Police Service commit Major General themselves to the creation of a safe and secure environment for utilise all the available The National Commissioner is all South Africans. In order to responsible for many of the rules that Brigadier achieve a safe and secure resources responsibly, govern SAPS, in addition to overseeing environment we undertake to... ef ciently and cost-effectively the processes of performance evaluation, crime statistics, the internal audit, to maximise their use information technology, human resources Colonel and ﬁnancial planning. Commissioned develop our own skills and Provincial Commissioners report directly Ocers Lieutenant Colonel participate in the development to the National Commissioner. They are of our fellow members to ensure supported by a team of Deputy Provincial Commissioners. Within their provinces Major equal opportunities for all they have the power to establish and maintain police stations and units, Captain determine resource allocations and contribute to the reconstruction jurisdictions, and issue orders and Lieutenant and development of, and instructions consistent with the SAPS Act reconciliation in, our country and all National Orders and Instructions. “[South Africa’s Although the position remains under security services] uphold and protect the review, Cluster Commanders are Warrant Of cer currently tasked with ensuring the Non- must act, and must fundamental rights of every e ective coordination of visible policing person and detective functions at all of the commissioned Sergeant teach and require stations within a respective cluster, as ocers well as facilitating support services to its Constable their members to act, act impartially, courteously, stations, overseeing operational plans and acting as the chairperson of the Cluster in accordance with honestly, respectfully, Student Constable Crime Combating Forum (CCCF). the Constitution and transparently and in an A Station Commander is responsible for accountable manner all operations within a SAPS station, the law ...” working closely with the respective commanders of detectives and visible ~ Section 199(5) of the Constitution work actively towards police, as well as the CIO. preventing any form of corruption and bringing those guilty of corruption to justice

56 ~ SAPS: Structures & Functions SAPS : SAPS: with integrity, render a Ranks Code of Commissioned General responsible and effective National Commissioner Conduct service of high quality which is Ocers Lieutenant General accessible to every person and In March 2010, SAPS reverted to Senior Management Deputy National Commissioner its original, apartheid-era military Divisional Commissioner continuously strive towards The members of the South ranking system. These titles are Provincial Commissioner improving this service as follows: African Police Service commit Major General themselves to the creation of a safe and secure environment for utilise all the available The National Commissioner is all South Africans. In order to responsible for many of the rules that Brigadier achieve a safe and secure resources responsibly, govern SAPS, in addition to overseeing environment we undertake to... ef ciently and cost-effectively the processes of performance evaluation, crime statistics, the internal audit, to maximise their use information technology, human resources Colonel and ﬁnancial planning. Commissioned develop our own skills and Provincial Commissioners report directly Ocers Lieutenant Colonel participate in the development to the National Commissioner. They are of our fellow members to ensure supported by a team of Deputy Provincial Commissioners. Within their provinces Major equal opportunities for all they have the power to establish and maintain police stations and units, Captain determine resource allocations and contribute to the reconstruction jurisdictions, and issue orders and Lieutenant and development of, and instructions consistent with the SAPS Act reconciliation in, our country and all National Orders and Instructions. “[South Africa’s Although the position remains under security services] uphold and protect the review, Cluster Commanders are Warrant Of cer currently tasked with ensuring the Non- must act, and must fundamental rights of every e ective coordination of visible policing person and detective functions at all of the commissioned Sergeant teach and require stations within a respective cluster, as ocers well as facilitating support services to its Constable their members to act, act impartially, courteously, stations, overseeing operational plans and acting as the chairperson of the Cluster in accordance with honestly, respectfully, Student Constable Crime Combating Forum (CCCF). the Constitution and transparently and in an A Station Commander is responsible for accountable manner all operations within a SAPS station, the law ...” working closely with the respective commanders of detectives and visible ~ Section 199(5) of the Constitution work actively towards police, as well as the CIO. preventing any form of corruption and bringing those guilty of corruption to justice

SAPS: Structures & Functions ~ 57

Testimonies: The Police

Every day, shortages of personnel, physical resources and patrols, and failures of oversight and management, all affect SAPS’s ability to prevent crime. From the crime scene to the court house, negligence and inefficiency on the part of visible police, detectives and their support staff hopelessly obstruct the path to justice.

While the evidence of Khayelitsha residents made it clear that SAPS members have been guilty of callousness, inefficiency and gross misconduct, it is equally important to remember that there are still many other police officers, in Khayelitsha and across South Africa, who are striving to perform their duties to the best of their ability.

In this chapter, we hear from SAPS witnesses at station, cluster, provincial and national level. Their testimonies provide crucial insight into the challenging work of policing in informal areas, as well as the many wider systemic failures that compound the poor performance of police forces on the ground.

59 hearings (see page 65). He added that Testimonies: when there are no roads leading to a crime scene situated deep within The Police an informal area, a third detective is often needed to guard the abandoned vehicle. At night, Molo said, crime scenes are more difficult to manage with- Environment vs Crime out street lighting or the use of a Scene Management car’s headlights. And with shacks crammed so close to one another, an Unlike Cape Town’s historically white area cordoned off for a crime scene suburbs where virtually every building often incorporates more than one has road access and a street address, home, which in turn requires SAPS to almost every home has a private evacuate the inhabitants, sometimes security system, and the vast major- for hours at a time and in the dead of ity of reported crimes are hijackings night. and house break-ins, Khayelitsha (like Owing to these factors, Molo other deprived working-class areas refused to accept “a generalised state- across South Africa) presents SAPS ment that the police in Khayelitsha with many unique challenges. are inefficient”. He argued that SAPS’s specific guidelines for crime scene “Crime-friendly” informal management do not apply to certain settlements parts of Khayelitsha owing to environmental constraints. Speaking from experience, Colonel Michael Reitz (below), the Station Commander at Lingelethu West, drew the Commission’s attention to the impenetrable and even disorientating nature of Khayelitsha’s informal settlements. Densely packed and poorly lit, they are “crime-friendly”, he said – that is, they make communities more vulnerable to crime and they complicate efficient police work. Major General David Molo, the Provincial Head of Detective Services, echoed these comments later in the

~~ Colonel Michael Reitz Station Commander, SAPS Lingelethu West

60 ~ Testimonies: The Police SAPS’s failures, in part, stem from the difficulties which characterise policing in Khayelitsha’s informal areas, such as poor lighting and inaccessibility. They also often go hand-in-hand with insufficient resources, a fundamental problem dealt with in the following section

you need to walk in there, you need to park your vehicle outside in the street and then another thing that is really difficult is the numbering of houses in the areas. It is difficult because if you don’t know the area very well, IT’S VERY HARD TO FIND THE SPECIFIC ADDRESS IN A SHORT TIME.

Testimonies: The Police ~ 61

Gloves and cordons: Protecting a save a life or arrest a suspect. A joint The Commission crime scene operational centre should be established, as well as a crime scene log found that Expert witness Dr David Klatzow, an – in order to record all of the crucial experienced forensic scientist, detailed information. crime scenes in the process that goes into protecting Once all of these measures are in a crime scene. The first priority is to place, an officer should be appointed Khayelitsha are not determine the status of any victims. to take charge of the crime scene Next, officers should establish whether for the remainder of the investiga- routinely secured or there is any ongoing threat to life – tion. Either a Forensic Pathologist or protected, and that such as leaking gas, explosives or fire a Forensic Pathology Officer (FPO) hazards. should then be called for. In theory, officers tend not Barrier tape should then be used to every crime scene should be managed seal off the area (crucially, every SAPS according to these guidelines. to summon crime response vehicle should be equipped However, as a number of SAPS with tape, protective clothing, shoe witnesses testified, the reality is that experts. When the covers and gloves). Dr Klatzow also there are occasions when rain dam- recommended halogen lights and a ages the evidence, when bystanders FPO does arrive, small generator for managing crime cross the police cordon and interfere the scene has scenes in informal areas at night. with the investigation. As the case To ensure that the evidence is not had been for Colonel Marais, there often already been tampered with, a sufficient comple- are even scenarios in which multiple ment of police officers is essential. crimes take place within a short period tampered with, Those responsible for handling the of time, all within the same precinct, evidence should only do so wearing leaving detectives with no option but usually by family protective clothing. Nobody should to rush through their crime-scene members of the enter the crime scene unless it is to investigations. victim

There are no streetlights in some areas, no proper roads, overcrowding of informal settlements and people. Informal settlements often burn in summers and in winter they get flooded.

These factors do not stop crime. Often they encourage it.

~~ Major General David Molo Provincial Head of Detectives

Testimonies: The Police ~ 65 These shortages are also experi- Resources and Facilities enced in other parts of Khayelitsha. Brigadier Zithulele Dladla, the Station Three obvious requirements for any Commander of Khayelitsha Site B, police station operating in informal described the problem as “being areas are sufficient personnel, equip- gagged by the RAG” (the RAG, as ment and facilities. And yet, as Jean mentioned on page 54, being Pretoria’s Redpath revealed to the Commission, budgeted allocation of resources – the 15 police stations with the lowest both human and physical – to each police-to-population ratios in the West- station). ern Cape are all socially disadvantaged Colonel Reitz mentioned that at the and many of them have high levels of time of his testimony there were a violent crime. total of 167 officers at the Lingelethu West station – a staff complement “Gagged by the RAG” which he described as insufficient for the task at hand. Of these beleaguered stations, the Brigadier Leon Rabie, the national worst-off is Harare, its members head of Performance Management and operating within an area that in fact Organisational Development, could requires two police stations. Harare’s offer no justification as to why, for two Station Commander Colonel Tshotleho decades, the THRR (also introduced Raboliba indicated that, for over a on page 54) seemed to neglect black, decade, plans have been in the pipeline previously disadvantaged communities to build a new station in Makhaza, an in the Western Cape. area several kilometres away from the Harare station but within its jurisdiction (see map on pages 2-3).

General, my sense is that there is something fundamentally irrational about the way the RAG is calculated, if it produces results such as it does comparing Lingelethu West with Claremont.

Are you in agreement with me?

~~ Advocates Pete Hathorn and Ncumisa Mayosi Counsel for the Complainants

66 ~ Testimonies: The Police And even Lieutenant General Arno Lamoer, the Western Cape’s Provincial Commissioner, conceded that the national office’s system of human resource allocation was “fundamentally irrational”

I’m in agreement.

~~ Lieutenant General Arno Lamoer Western Cape Provincial Commissioner 1 April 2014

Testimonies: The Police ~ 67 Powers of redeployment However, when Evidence Leader West police station building was Advocate Nazreen Bawa pointed out cancelled by the City on the basis that Crucially, the Commission noted a that section 12(3) of the SAPS Act pro- it had been deemed unnecessary. tension between two sub-sections of vides for exactly that – in other words, Colonel Reitz denied any knowledge of the SAPS Act. The first, 12(3), provides allowing a Provincial Commissioner to this, but admitted that his station had the Provincial Commissioners with allocate personnel, not merely move been under intense pressure in terms the power to determine the distribu- them temporarily – Lieutenant General of its physical capacity. One reason tion of SAPS resources “under his or Lamoer had no choice but to agree. for this is a moratorium, put in place her jurisdiction … among the different shortly after 1994, which prohibited areas, station areas, offices and units”; Cramped and lacking dockets from being destroyed. the second, 11(2)(b), empowers the All three Khayelitsha stations – as National Commissioners to adjust the The issue of resource shortages in well as the FCS Unit (see page 73) – number and grading of posts, as well Khayelitsha, however, only begins are under-staffed, the Commission as the fixed establishment of SAPS with the number of personnel. Major found. The THRR, although a sophis- nationwide. General Reneé Fick, the Deputy ticated mechanism “that appears to Asked about his authority as Provincial Commissioner for Physical have been developed in good faith”, Provincial Commissioner to re-deploy Resource Management, described has in effect prejudiced black previ- members between stations or units, SAPS’s inadequate physical infrastruc- ously disadvantaged communities Lieutenant General Lamoer testi- ture throughout the Western Cape as a by undervaluing certain inputs like fied that he did not have the power “huge problem”. Colonel Reitz not only the environmental challenges which to permanently place a member at complained about his insufficient staff, characterise informal settlements. another station unless a “funded post” but also that his station’s office space There are many other factors, beyond was available. was far too cramped. staffing levels, which determine an The Commission was alerted to efficient and effective police service, a correspondence between the City but the Commission found it astonish- of Cape Town and the Department of ing that for two decades an almost I put it to Public Works dating back to 2012. you, General, that this apartheid-style bias could have whole notion of not In it a plan to expand the Lingelethu prevailed. being able to shift funded posts actually interferes with the SAPS Act. would you have any comment on that?

That’s correct, Chair.

~~ Lieutenant General ~~ Advocate Arno Lamoer Nazreen Bawa Western Cape Evidence Leader Provincial Commissioner

68 ~ Testimonies: The Police One of the questions that has most troubled the Commission is how a system of human resource allocation that appears to be systematically biased against poor black communities could have survived twenty years into our post-apartheid democracy. In the view of the Commission, the survival of this system is evidence of a failure of governance and oversight of SAPS in every sphere of government.

~~ The Commission Towards a Safer Khayelitsha

Testimonies: The Police ~ 69 “ The work that they [Khayelitsha detectives] are getting is so far removed from the ideal. It’s not 30% removed from the ideal; it’s in the region of 70% removed from the ideal. And I can’t see how one can expect detectives to try and do that if, on a reasonable assessment, they ought to be having four dockets. Well, sorry, you’ve got 120, and all sorts of knock-on things happen – they don’t contact witnesses, they don’t feed back to people, they don’t take the dockets to court, the matter then gets struck off, so that doubles their work. They’ve now got to try and get the matter re-enrolled but actually they haven’t got time to get it re-enrolled because they’ve got another 119 dockets.” ~~ Justice Kate O’Regan 25 March 2014 You know in the movies, when you see a team descending ON a crime scene, attending to a docket? Well, here you have a team of dockets descending on a detective.

70 ~ Testimonies: The Police Colonel Marais estimated that, at Detectives and Dockets any given time, investigating officers at Khayelitsha Site B each carry SAPS witnesses expressed conflicting between 145 and 160 dockets. Some, opinions over how many dockets are he said, carry far more, such as one manageable for one detective. Colonel officer who had between 130 and 160 Reitz testified that each of his station’s murder dockets, in addition to many 30 detectives was carrying between more involving lesser crimes. 120 and 130 dockets – a caseload he Referring to the RAG, Marais thought they could handle. Brigadier explained that the context of each Dladla was more conservative, sug- station’s needs is not being fully taken gesting that between 60 and 80 was into account by the Pretoria head manageable – and yet expert witness office – only the population and crime and former senior SAPS officer Mr rates within each precinct. “I don’t Jan Swart described this assertion as believe in the RAG,” he stated, “I don’t “contentious”. believe it is right.”

Drowning in dockets Triage and knock-on effects

In her testimony, Colonel Alma Wiese, The reality, however, is that SAPS the Detective Coordinator for the detectives, especially in areas with Khayelitsha Cluster, noted that, from disproportionately high levels of crime one month to the next, Harare’s 66 like Khayelitsha, have no choice but to detectives often carry more than 2,300 assign degrees of urgency to the most unresolved case dockets between pressing cases. them – of which hundreds relate to The result is a string of knock-on serious crimes – in addition to taking effects – exacerbated by ineffi- on 1,000 new dockets. ciency and negligence – which leads to Despite the branch’s dispropor- dockets being lost, cases being struck tionately high contact-crime levels, in off the court roll, justice rarely being 2013, its detective-to-citizen ratio was served, a heightening of the com- 1:2626, in striking contrast to affluent munity’s anger and distrust towards suburbs like Sea Point, Claremont and the police, and ultimately a rise in Stellenbosch, with minimal contact vigilantism. crime and detective-to-citizen ratios of 1:435, 1:474 and 1:571, respectively.

~~ Brigadier Zithulele Dladla Station Commander, Khayelitsha Site B

Testimonies: The Police ~ 71 Dockets missing in court And yet, Captain Dhanabalan Pillay, The Commission the Detective Court Case Officer In their testimonies, residents (DCCO) at the Khayelitsha Magistrate’s concluded that there described the consequences of a Court, estimated that, each day, there docket failing to arrive at court. But is an average of three missing dockets was overwhelming who is to blame for this? And how among those received from the three evidence – beginning with frequently do these failures occur? Khayelitsha stations, some of which Colonel Marais contended there are often relate to serious crimes, such as the stories of the eight times when dockets are locked in the rape or murder. original complainants – to filing cabinet of a detective who is away on sick leave. suggest that the detective Lightening the load Some, he added, are misplaced branches at each of the through “plain negligence”, but only a To cope with growing backlogs, expert small proportion. Other SAPS wit- witness Jan Swart suggested that the three Khayelitsha stations nesses were less willing to accept that most experienced detectives should had been performing their stations had been performing be allocated to high-volume detective poorly, ineffectively or inefficiently, branches like those in Khayelitsha. their tasks inefficiently or instead arguing that a scant allocation He also recommended a previous of resources left them ill-equipped system, in which uniformed personnel ineffectively. From failed for the mammoth task of policing in undertook the investigation of offences investigations to lost Khayelitsha. – such as reckless and negligent driv- In responding to the question of lost ing, shoplifting and trespassing – as dockets and backlogs, dockets, Lieutenant Colonel Barend opposed to detectives whose time was slow response times and Swart of Lingelethu West shifted the better spent on serious crimes. blame on to the prosecuting authori- a general shortage in ties. He recalled having once retrieved a handful of dockets, written off a year personnel, the problem earlier, from a prosecutor’s office. Below: Khayelitsha’s three station had become nothing short Swart also claimed that during his commanders during a break at the hearings. nine years of service at Lingelethu of systemic West there had never been a lost docket at his station.

72 ~ Testimonies: The Police Colonel Harri: Systemic shortages The price of stigma

FCS Unit Colonel Sonja Harri, head of the Employee Health and Wellness (EHW) Western Cape’s provincial FCS Unit, Psychological Services are available to In 2010, Family Violence, Child Protec- told the Commission that, some years all police members in need of coun- tion and Sexual Offences (FCS) Units ago, efforts were made to improve the selling, especially after experiencing were re-launched across South Africa, Khayelitsha unit’s performance. Some trauma. However, largely owing to having been absorbed into the greater officers were redeployed – but, owing the strong institutional culture within police service in 2006. to a lack of interest from candidates SAPS and the misguided fear that to Currently, there are some 176 units elsewhere, they were not immediately seek counselling is to risk missing out nationwide, operated by about 2,500 replaced; others, meanwhile, were on a promotion, few make use of it. members. Their mandate is broad and caught up in disciplinary matters. The result was that most investiga- challenging: to police sexual offences At the time of the Commission’s tions were poorly conducted, if at against children, person-directed hearings, the Khayelitsha FCS Unit all, with many cases withdrawn or crimes (involving family), the illegal re- had just three officers and 14 mem- struck from the roll. It also strained moval of children under the age of 12, bers – a staff far too few in number relations with partner institutions like and electronic media-related crime. to cope with the task at hand. For the Thuthuzela Care Centre and the several years prior to 2013, the Unit prosecutors at the Khayelitsha Magis- FCS Unit, Khayelitsha had also been without a permanent trate’s Court. The Commission was tasked with commander. Blaming the RAG, Colonel investigating the three Khayelitsha Harri insisted that there should be stations as well as “any other units six additional members and another The Commission of SAPS operating in Khayelitsha”. Of officer. these, the one with by far the most With virtually no crime intelligence concluded that distressing reputation for inefficiency to work from, a history of inadequate was the FCS Unit. Despite receiving investigations, low morale, trauma Khayelitsha’s FCS Unit fewer cases than other SAPS units and burnout among the staff, a lack of was under-staffed, in Khayelitsha, it was described in a oversight, poor record-keeping, and a 2013 inspection report as “the worst mounting backlog of unsolved cases, over-burdened and performing unit [in the province] … the obvious result – as Ms Harmse poorly managed bringing the whole FCS component of the Khayelitsha Magistrate’s Court down”. confirmed – is that many FCS cases without consistent have been struck from the court roll. long-term leadership. Its members were You must suffering from low remember that there is the mentality in morale, a reluctance the police that cowboys don’t to seek trauma cry. counselling, and an impossible build-up of cases which could only be addressed by teams brought in from other units

~~ Colonel Sonja Harri Head of FCS, Western Cape

Testimonies: The Police ~ 73 The Commission found this tenden- ‘Strafstasie’ is the word several Institutional Culture, cy to have compromised complaints Khayeltisha police members used to systems, reduced the community’s describe their place of work: a station Morale and levels of trust in SAPS, and violated – or “dropping zone”, as Colonel Swart Absenteeism South Africa’s constitutional values put it – to which officers from other of transparency, accountability and clusters are redeployed as a form of Aside from being a very large responsiveness. punishment for their misconduct. organisation, SAPS also has specific It is, nevertheless, worth noting that, Working in an environment with functions and a unique context. Many during the hearings, the Provincial a reputation such as this, without of its members are exposed to life- Commissioner apologised publically to recourse to psychological therapy, it threatening situations on a regular the people of Khayelitsha and wel- is no wonder that SAPS members in basis, they are authorised to use force comed the Commission’s intervention. Khayelitsha are prone to low morale against citizens, and they are put and absenteeism. under pressure to perform efficiently Cowboys and strafstasies as an organ of the state. Callous and unequal All of these conditions give the The second aspect of SAPS’s insti- organisation a particular character, tutional culture is best captured by The third aspect, dealt with in greater or ‘institutional culture’. In analysing Colonel Harri’s comment that “cow- detail in the community section, is this, the Commission identified four boys don’t cry”. the disrespectful and even abusive troubling aspects. This section sum- The testimonies of numerous ways in which certain police members marizes these and one other. witnesses suggested that SAPS treat civilians – and especially foreign members, suffering from stress, nationals and members of the LGBTI Internal solidarity trauma and depression, are reluctant community. to use the EHW programme in case The Commission advocated that, The first is ‘the principle of internal it reduces their chances of being instead, every person should be solidarity’ by which SAPS members promoted. treated equally, with dignity and an are unwilling to admit that their The daily life of a police officer ethic of courtesy, and in accordance colleagues have acted wrongly, or in South Africa’s deprived, informal with the principle of ubuntu. that their organisation has under- areas bears little resemblance to that performed. of SAPS members working in more affluent suburbs.

74 ~ Testimonies: The Police “ Sometimes you would get to the police station … and you would realise that there is a new person and you will see a little bit of eagerness on their side to do their job correctly and when you get to the police station in three or four months and you meet that person again then you realise, okay, that guy’s already just as demoralised as the rest of the group. ” .

~~ Testimony of Sonja Basson Social Worker, Khayelitsha Homestead Projects for School Children 31 January 2014

Testimonies: The Police ~ 75 Public servants, not just crime Marginalising women fighters And a final characteristic, not men- Arrest, Detention and Closely related to this, the fourth tioned explicitly in the Commission’s Release aspect identified by the Commission report, is the culture of chauvinism was the apparent lack of understand- that prevails in SAPS. Colonel Alma Detectives are responsible for charg- ing among certain SAPS members Wiese, the Khayelitsha cluster’s ing suspects imprisoned in a station’s that they are providing a service to Detective Coordinator, described the holding cells. Along with visible police, the people of South Africa, rather than institutional challenges she has faced they also share the responsibility of fighting crime for their benefit. as a policewoman operating within a arresting, detaining and releasing sus- male-dominated system. pects. According to the Constitution, “... people vent their anger against In part owing to the limitations people who are arrested on suspicion of having committed a crime must the police because the police imposed upon her by a narrow mandate, her personal performance come before a judge or magistrate are a symbol of the State. They has been heavily dependent on the within 48 hours of their arrest. come to the police for everything cooperation of Colonel Wiese’s detec- Detained without charge because the police have to be a tive branch commanders, most of teacher, a pastor, a doctor, a law- whom are men: In its report, the Commission raised two serious concerns relating to yer, a social worker. The problem “I’ve been dealing with this my arrest, detention and release. The first, is that the people of Khayelitsha whole career, especially for a lady that a high number of suspects were mostly live like animals ...” in SAPS to be in command over being detained and released without charge in Khayelitsha. ~~ From the affidavit of Brigadier a lot of senior officers, males, it’s The Schooling and Leamy Report Aaron Mlenga, former Station quite a challenge ... I think as a (conducted for the Commission by Commander at Khayelitsha Site B woman you need to ... produce two retired high-ranking SAPS offic- twice as much success as my ers) showed that at Lingelethu West a disproportionately high number of male colleague to get recognised suspects had been arrested overnight, and to be taken seriously.” for minor offences, then released the following morning after paying an admission-of-guilt fine. The Commission found there to be a strong likelihood of perverse incentives, given that the performance The Commission found that of each SAPS station is measured, in part, according to the number of these aspects of SAPS’s arrests its members make. institutional culture are in A costly oversight serious conflict with its code of The second concern was that SAPS officers in Khayelitsha had been abus- conduct as well as South Africa’s ing the 48-hour rule, by not recording the times of detention and release. constitutional values – and in This omission, the Schooling and many cases contribute to low Leamy Report suggested, was either an error or “a deliberate ploy” by morale and absenteeism among the officers concerned. Either way, it exposed a lack of oversight from police members management at station level.

Right: A sergeant from SAPS Khayelitsha Site B unlocks a holding cell during the inspections in loco.

76 ~ Testimonies: The Police The Commission learned of many civil claims that had been lodged against SAPS in relation to wrongful arrest and the holding of detainees for longer than 48 hours. Lieutenant General Lamoer also admitted that the amount of money paid out in these civil suits was increasing annually

Testimonies: The Police ~ 77 The Commission found that the inadequate standard of inspections and disciplinary action in Khayelitsha SAPS stations pointed to a failure of management at every level Lenient discipline Better monitoring

Internal Inspections And yet, the evidence before the Sean Tait, the Coordinator of the Afri- and Disciplinary Action Commission suggested that discipli- can Policing Civilian Oversight Forum, nary processes were being regularly suggested that police station manag- By the letter of the law, if a warrant conducted in all three Khayelitsha ers should closely monitor disciplinary officer does not report back to a stations. processes at their stations. He recom- complainant, or if a detective fails to The Task Team indicated that during mended that complaints agencies, deliver a docket to court on time, or the period January-December 2011, a such as IPID, the South African Human if a station commander ignores the total number of 291 employees were Rights Commission, DOCS and the recommendations of the provincial disciplined at SAPS Khayelitsha Site Civilian Secretariat, should establish inspector, then he or she should be B, in addition to 138 during the period a mechanism to share information disciplined. January-June 2012. concerning complaints. But when the fulfilment of these The authors described these rates However, in the light of SAPS’s leni- duties goes beyond what is humanly as “extremely high”. The most likely ent disciplinary measures in Khayelit- possible, the case can be made that explanation for this was provided by sha, it is clear that internal inspections disciplinary action itself is a misuse human resource practitioners Joy Fish may yield similar results. Since 2009, of time. and Johan Schlebusch – that although the Commission found, each and This was the predicament that a large number of disciplinary pro- every Khayelitsha SAPS report has faced the Commission as they worked ceedings are being conducted against indicated that despite the three levels through the ranks of SAPS manage- members, many are “very lenient” and of inspection that do occur (at station, ment. Justice O’Regan, putting herself dismissals are extremely rare. cluster and provincial level), there in the shoes of a station commander never seems to be any action taken to – whose duty it is to monitor these improve performance. disciplinary procedures – summed up the problem (below): Unannounced visits The detective does some very In many countries across the devel- good work, messes oped world, it is standard practice up on some things, that independent committees and lay and then you say I’m just not going inspectors make unannounced visits to discipline that to all detention sites. Researcher Clare detective ... Ballard noted that although the Office of the Inspecting Judge is required by because although technically in terms legislation to inspect all South African of every SAPS rule prisons regularly, this responsibility I ought to, it would does not extend to police cells. be unreasonable of me to treat that Ms Ballard contended that internal detective that way. SAPS inspections, carried out under the auspices of the Provincial Inspec- torate, do not adequately monitor the condition of detained suspects. She warned that, because South African police cells function beyond the reach of public scrutiny, detainees are at risk of abuse and neglect. The ICD Report for 2009/2010, for instance, revealed that, in Khayelitsha during that year, seven deaths took place either in police custody or as a result of police action. One of these resulted from a brutal assault on a community member.

Testimonies: The Police ~ 79 those with specialist roles in human Recruitment & Training resources and finance. Crime Intelligence Another pressing issue is that Criminal investigation is a craft, of language. Though Khayelitsha is Crime intelligence underpins all forms almost entirely isiXhosa-speaking, and like many human crafts it is of crime prevention. In every SAPS many of its police members – includ- station, the Crime Intelligence Officer one that improves with practice, ing commanders – can only speak (CIO) is responsible for correlating training and guidance. There is English and Afrikaans. the times and places at which crimes evidence on these dockets that Colonel Swart admitted that his are committed, analysing case link- inability to speak isiXhosa was a not all criminal investigators in ages in terms of the victims, targets, serious hindrance, especially when perpetrators and modus operandi, and Khayelitsha are skilled in, and questioning suspects and witnesses. conducting fieldwork by visiting crime attentive to, their craft. Several witnesses mentioned the scenes, interviewing witnesses and need for a language programme members of the public. ~~ The Commission and Professor Gobodo-Madikizela Towards a Safer Khayelitsha proposed that young people from Dr Chris de Kock: CIOs are pivotal Khayelitsha, familiar with the territory Any organisation is bound to be inef- and capable of speaking the language, The former head of SAPS’s Crime ficient unless its members, however should be recruited and trained. Information Analysis Centre Dr Chris many, are carefully recruited and de Kock estimated that 95% of the trained. Masked behind the low num- information at a CIO’s disposal derives bers of SAPS personnel in Khayelitsha directly from complainants. are additional deficiencies – such as Ideally, every time a station’s visible a shortage of qualified, higher-ranked police members begin their shift, they officers next to an excess of poorly- The Commission found should be briefed by the station CIO on trained lower-ranked members. ‘crime hotspots’ – specific locations there to be many where crime is concentrated – and the Low standard of applicants likely activity of criminals. aspects of recruitment Either daily or weekly, a Station Dr Mulder van Eyk, formerly a SAPS and training that Crime Combating Forum (SCCF) officer for 44 years, told the Comm- meeting should also be convened, in ission that SAPS has ten basic training need to be addressed. order for the operational managers to academies where entry-level recruits Without a promising be briefed by the CIO. It is during these are trained, as well as 11 in-service meetings that station management police development academies. The intake of personnel, all should identify infrastructural prob- educational standard of applicants of whom are taught lems (such as faulty street lighting and is generally “below average”, made bushy areas) that create opportunities worse by the fact that SAPS does not the necessary skills for crime, and report these to the pay its recruits immediately. required of any SAPS relevant government department. Dr Van Eyk revealed that there are “alarming” levels of social problems member, there can Policing by chance and luck among new trainees – and yet very be little hope of ever few candidates fail to be accepted Dr De Kock’s analysis of the minutes because SAPS is willing to let recruits fully overcoming from 58 SCCF meetings in Khayelitsha re-take entrance tests up to eight showed the Commission that there times. the deficiencies was almost no evidence of a crime- highlighted by the threat or pattern analysis, as required Skills and experience by National Instruction 2/2013. complainants When this information later sur- Joy Fish and Johan Schlebusch faced, it was shown to contain “merely testified that it is unusual for any crime tables and statistics”. This organisation, let alone the biggest in meant that SAPS had no strategy for the country, to recruit all of its employ- its deployment of uniformed officers, ees at the lowest level. They suggested instead assigning them to sectors on that more experienced employees what appeared to be a random basis. should be brought in, and especially

80 ~ Testimonies: The Police In response to Dr De Kock’s findings, the Commission assumed that officers were neglecting intelligence-based strategies, or that CIOs had misunderstood their role. It also found that the current failure of the Khayelitsha visible police to rely more heavily on crime hotspots was, in effect, displacing crime rather than reducing it

Testimonies: The Police ~ 81 Although a detective branch Feedback and Internal commander, Colonel Barend Swart admitted to having no knowledge of Communications computers, and argued that detectives – and not computers – solve crimes. A recurring complaint that emerged Despite these glaring shortages, from the Khayelitsha community the Commission noted that every year was the failure of SAPS detectives to SAPS spends some R2 billion on IT; provide feedback to complainants, wit- and yet at station-level there is very nesses and bereaved family members. little evidence of it. Of the 200 individual complaints received by the Commission and the complainant organisations, nearly 44% Opposite page: Advocate mentioned the issue of inadequate Ncumisa Mayosi questions We’ve got to see communication. how we can Brigadier Dladla outside be smarter, a container full of Commissioners. Feedback SMSes old dockets at SAPS we’re in a Khayelitsha Site B during technology age, why SAPS adopts a system of sending bun- the inspections in loco. must we have so dles of SMSes to complainants when many papers? their dockets have been opened. These display the CAS number and the name of the investigating officer allocated to the case. In theory, the Commission found, this is an adequate system. However, in practice, problems arise when there is more than one complainant, or when cells phones are lost or stolen. Jan Swart told the Commission that, ideally, investigating officers should contact complainants at least every fortnight – until the investigation has been completed – and that this feedback should be recorded in the investigation diary. But Khayelitsha residents testified that, once the first SMS has been sent, feedback rarely occurs thereafter. Some reported that SAPS had not contacted them after a new investigating officer had taken over their cases. Others received no information whatsoever as their court dates approached.

“So many papers”

Another cause for concern was SAPS’s shortage, and ineffective use, of information technology (IT). Major General Molo remarked that stations across the Western Cape do not have enough ~~ Major General laptops and cell phones. Major General Sharon Jephta Jephta told the Commission that some Deputy Provincial of SAPS’s burdens could be alleviated Commissioner by more advanced IT. (Operations)

82 ~ Testimonies: The Police Testimonies: The Police ~ 83

The work of the Commission was made more difficult by high levels of political contestation regarding its mandate not only at the national and provincial level, but also within Khayelitsha itself.

~~ The Commission Towards a Safer Khayelitsha

Testimonies: The Government

The Commission heard the testimonies of 15 witnesses from government departments and units with responsibilities in Khayelitsha. Although their roles fell beyond the scope of the Commission’s mandate, they remained profoundly relevant to all aspects of the Inquiry.

This chapter is divided into four sections. It begins with the two institutions tasked with overseeing SAPS: DOCS and IPID. The second section deals with the fiercely contested issue of infrastructure in the Western Cape. The third draws on the evidence of the government’s health and forensics practitioners working in Khayelitsha. And the final section briefly covers two organs of criminal justice that work alongside SAPS: the NPA and the Khayelitsha Magistrate’s Court.

87 Speaking before the Commission, Testimonies: Complaints and the head of DOCS, Dr Gilbert Lawrence, explained that since this new system The Oversight has been in place DOCS has encoun- tered many frustrating delays in the The Western Cape’s Department of investigation of complaints. Government Community Safety (DOCS) has a con- Whereas Lieutenant General stitutional mandate to monitor SAPS’s Lamoer testified that unannounced operations within the province, as well visits by DOCS members at police as to investigate complaints lodged stations were useful in identifying “They were complaining about against police officers by members SAPS’s shortcomings, Major General of the public. If required, its members all government departments Jephta argued that such intrusions put can exercise the right to visit police that are in Khayelitsha – your unwarranted pressure on the police, stations unannounced. and therefore are neither desirable nor Metro Police, your law enforce- DOCS spends a portion of its necessary. ment, your Health Department, R380-million annual budget on She added that an agreement mobilising communities against your Justice Department, SAPS. had been reached between DOCS crime – via the Extended Partnership But unfortunately we chose the and SAPS over DOCS’s handling of Programme (an initiative which funds complaints against SAPS members, wrong job, we are only the whip- CPFs), recruiting police reservists and but Dr Lawrence denied this and the ping boys as the SAPS; we were Neighbourhood Watch volunteers (who Commission could find no documented patrol their residential areas at night isolated as SAPS.” evidence to support her claim. or on weekends), and establishing new ~~ Brigadier Zithulele Dladla forums to promote community safety. IPID and SAPS Station Commander As explained on page 53, the Khayelitsha Site B Independent Police Investigative IPID’s Provincial Director of Investiga- 18 February 2014 Directorate (IPID) is similarly respon- tions Thabo Leholo described a series sible for investigating allegations of of complaints lodged by the NGO serious misconduct lodged against Embrace Dignity – and investigated by SAPS members. IPID’s predecessor, the ICD – in which However, unlike DOCS, which is SAPS members had repeatedly forced a provincial department, IPID is a sex workers to “show them their national structure with nine provincial private parts” on Baden Powell Drive offices. When IPID recommends that in southern Khayelitsha. disciplinary action should be instituted The ICD referred the matter back to against a SAPS member, the National SAPS for investigation, concluding that or relevant Provincial Commissioner the sex workers “[were] being victim- is legally obligated to carry out these ised by the police members and that proceedings within 30 days. the conduct of the police towards them [was] improper and unacceptable”. DOCS and SAPS The Commission was disturbed to find that there was no information on The Commission learned that relations file confirming whether a report was between DOCS and SAPS have been ever received from SAPS, in response strained for many years, to the extent to which Mr Leholo had no explanation. that a number of witnesses noted the institutions’ “divergent views” and “bad working relationship”. Right: Counsel for the In March 2010, a ‘Nodal Point’ Complainants, Advocates (see page 55) was established by the Peter Hathorn and Provincial Commissioner as a means Ncumisa Mayosi to centralising the investigation of all complaints against SAPS and, in effect, excluding DOCS from the process.

88 ~ Testimonies: The Government “ It got to the point where we were sending Excel sheets of complaints that had not yet been responded to, so that meant certainly from the public’s perception (who were making these complaints) we were no more than a post box and in a sense were not able to quickly and rapidly reply in terms of what was happening to their complaint. ”

~~ Dr Gilbert Lawrence DOCS, Western Cape 5 February 2014

Testimonies: The Government ~ 89 Khayelitsha’s degrading socio-economic conditions ranked high among the grievances of both SAPS and the complainants. The Western Cape Government and City of Cape Town’s failure to provide basic services in Khayelitsha – and especially sanitation and high-mast street lighting – remains not only a source of bitter contestation between government and civil-society organisations but also a serious threat to community safety

Below: A row of hired toilets on a plot of polluted land in Site C, Khayelitsha.

90 ~ Testimonies: The Government Although the location of every Infrastructure camera in Greater Cape Town is determined by the City in consultation with SAPS, it was noted by the Commission Lights, cameras, action! that there are none in Harare, despite the precinct’s extremely high levels of Brigadier Dladla drew attention to crime. faulty street lights as an example of a factor that falls outside of the police Sanitation in Khayelitsha: mandate but has a direct impact on Dangerous and dehumanising the proliferation of crime. He mentioned that while driving home from Perhaps the most hotly contested work he often counts the faulty lights infrastructural issue of all was that en route to the southern suburbs: of water and sanitation. The comic on “It’s pathetic what you see from page 93 is a reminder that informal Khayelitsha to Wynberg,” he said. “If settlements like Endlovini, surrounded I’m driving on Lansdowne Road from by dense bush and lacking in sanita- work we find that the lights are not tion facilities, are extremely hazard- working in Khayelitsha but the lights ous, particularly for women and girls. are working on the R300 and the off- In BM Section, during the Commis- ramp from the N2.” sion’s inspections in loco, it became Another complaint was that high- evident that among the rows of mast lights (which have a light radius government-provided flush toilets of 175m–200m) were often out of many were unusable, often with little order, and sometimes took several or no sign of maintenance. During the months to fix. hearings, community members also The response of Mr Richard Bos- described the daily ordeal of relieving man, the Executive Director of the themselves in Khayelitsha’s bushy City’s Safety and Security Directorate, areas. was that the City experiences prob- In Mr Bosman’s testimony, he made lems of vandalism and theft in relation the unsubstantiated claim that 100% to the lights, as well as resistance of informal households in the City have from the community to workers from access to adequate sanitation. other parts of the City. According to statistics provided To help SAPS tackle crime, the City by Professor Jeremy Seekings, out operates 350 CCTV cameras across of a total of 119,000 Khayelitsha Greater Cape Town. 16 were installed households in 2011, 74,000 (62%) had in Khayelitsha at the time of the hear- access to water on site, 96,000 (81%) ings, but of these only ten were said to used electricity for lighting, and 85,000 be functional. (71%) used flush toilets.

While the Commission acknowledged that the unplanned nature of most informal settlements in Khayelitsha does pose challenges to the government’s service delivery, it was clear that far more could be done to upgrade the current degrading conditions

Testimonies: The Government ~ 91 Clockwise from top-left: In Khayelitsha’s RR Section, a man attempts to remove trash from a heavily polluted waterway; without access to sanitation, a boy from Site C is forced to defecate on a patch of land beside the N2 highway; where communal flush toilets are provided, many soon fall into a state of disrepair due to a lack of maintenance by local government, such as this example in BM Section; a young Khayelitsha resident cleans a ‘porta-pottie’; and beside her shack in RR Section, a woman enters a makeshift outhouse where she and her family keep their ‘porta-pottie’.

92 ~ Testimonies: The Government Testimonies: The Government ~ 93 Dumped rape kits Serial rapist

Health Care and Dr Josias recalled two shocking sto- Dr Josias’s second story (right) came Forensics ries involving SAPS from recent years. as an appalling reminder of the The first of these concerned the irreparable harm caused by police The Thuthuzela Centre, situated at Sexual Assault Evidence Collection inefficiency and the unwillingness the Khayelitsha Hospital in Harare, boxes (or ‘rape kits’) into which foren- of SAPS members to cooperate with provides a much-needed safe haven sic samples are placed by Thuthuzela experienced medical practitioners. for the survivors of sexual assault. practitioners during their medical Under the leadership of principal examinations. Ms NZ: The long wait for DNA medical officer Dr Genine Josias, Once completed, these are handed results the Centre works closely with the over to an investigating officer from Provincial Departments of Health and SAPS who ensures that the box is On 2 August 2012, Khayelitsha resi- Social Development, the City of Cape delivered to the Forensic Science dent Ms NZ was informed by the police Town Health Department, SAPS and Laboratory for analysis. that her brother’s body had been found Khayelitsha-based non-governmental In 2011, Dr Josias was informed under a local railway bridge. organisations like Rape Crisis, TAC, that several Thuthuzela rape kits had At the Tygerberg Mortuary, she was Nonceba Family Counselling and been dumped in a field in Delft. She told that the deceased had been hit by Mosaic. explained that “all the work that had a train, leaving his body unrecognis- In Khayelitsha, most victims who die been put into collecting that forensic able, and that therefore a DNA test from unnatural causes are taken to the evidence, the meticulous methods was necessary. The investigating Tygerberg Mortuary. Ordinarily, accord- used, the resources and skills officer assigned to the case then told ing to Vonita Thompson, the Director employed to do so, and precious time Ms NZ that the test results would take of Forensic Pathology Services in the spent by all concerned, went to waste”. between three and four months unless Western Cape Department of Health, It also meant that the relevant pros- she paid R1300 to reduce the waiting forensic pathologists should complete ecutions could not proceed. Although period to two weeks. a post-mortem report within seven it was never determined why the kits Via her ward counsellor, Ms NZ days of the body’s admission. had been dumped, and by whom, Dr then spoke to the investigating officer Owing to huge backlogs, however, Josias maintained that it demon- and station commander, to whom she there are often extreme delays in strated “a serious weakness in the finally gave a statement. When she obtaining toxicology results and blood system where no tracking was done later enquired about the DNA test, the analyses from the National Forensic with regards to the chain of evidence call was cut off. Anxious to confirm Chemistry Laboratories in Woodstock. of clients.” funeral arrangements yet still unable to confirm the corpse’s identity, she finally resorted to contacting the Commission. Thanks to the Commission’s “ ...all the work that had been intervention, it then came to light that the results had neither been collected put into collecting that forensic from the laboratory nor communicated to Ms NZ. The investigation diary also evidence, the meticulous methods revealed that almost no detection had been carried out between 17 October used, the resources and skills 2012 and 27 November 2013. After following up on the matter employed to do so, and precious with the SAPS Provincial Inspectorate, the Commission was informed that a time spent by all concerned, went new detective had been assigned to the case, that he had added a charge to waste. ” of murder to the earlier charge of culpable homicide, and that he had ~~ Dr Genine Josias acquired statements from a witness, crime scene photographs and the Thuthuzela Care Centre post-mortem report. The Commission 29 January 2014 was also told that the DNA results would be confirmed within a week.

94 ~ Testimonies: The Government

Among those from Court 2, a simi- SAPS is also rarely informed when Criminal Justice larly high number had been withdrawn witnesses move residence, cell phones owing to the unavailability of laborato- are sometimes lost or stolen, and The Commission asked the Regional ry results in relation to blood samples. some witnesses (especially foreign Head of the Department of Justice and The Commission later backed up these nationals) are reluctant to come Constitutional Development to pro- findings by checking them against the forward or utilise the Witness Protec- vide information, and make relevant associated dockets. tion Programme. submissions, but no response was ever received. Prosecutions

Khayelitsha Magistrate’s Court According to the Western Cape’s DPP, Evidence from the who is the provincial head of the NPA, The Regional Manager, however, the problem of delayed, mislaid and courts and prosecuting allowed the Commission to access lost dockets is caused by a number of authorities reinforced records at the Khayelitsha Magistrate’s factors. These include the mismanage- Court. Accordingly, samples of final- ment, misconduct and incompetence the Commission’s ised charge sheets (linked to about of SAPS members, investigators being 800 cases) were drawn from Courts absent, and a lack of vehicles for findings that an 1 and 2, which deal with first appear- transporting dockets to and from the alarming number of ances (including serious contact courts. crimes) and cases of drunken driving, In an attempt to combat this issue, cases in Khayelitsha respectively. arrangements have been made to are being withdrawn Analysing these documents made provide both SAPS and the DCCO at the for alarming reading. Among the Khayelitsha Magistrate’s Court with or struck from the roll batches drawn from Court 1, between court rolls a week in advance. owing to inadequate 16% and 36% of cases had been The DPP also said that “securing withdrawn by prosecutors or struck off the attendance of witnesses at court investigations and the the roll because either the investiga- proves a serious challenge”, given tions were incomplete or the relevant that many of Khayelitsha’s shacks are absence of dockets and dockets had not been brought to court. temporary and unnumbered. witnesses

Testimonies: The Government ~ 99 While reading OUR recommendations, it is important to remember that, above all else, the safety of the men, women and children who live and work in Khayelitsha is of the utmost importance to the Commission’s work. And Even though we have made many damning findings, it is also important to acknowledge those members of SAPS who, despite the immense challenges before them, carry out their duties professionally and respectfully.

100 ~ Recommendations Recommendations

After the hearings were concluded on 16 May 2014, the Commission spent three months digesting the vast, complex and sometimes conflicting ream of evidence.

Once SAPS’s inefficiencies and the breakdown in relations between Khayelitsha’s police and community had been analysed exhaustively, the Commission then proceeded to make 20 recommendations to alleviate these problems. It is now up to the provincial and national governments to act upon them.

101 Recommendations

1 2 3 4 5 Community Policing Procedural Justice Monitoring & Oversight Change-Management Detective Services “ It is our fervent Commitment Model of Policing Process A monitoring and oversight team Four immediate measures and a hope that the Each police station in Khayelitsha The police in Khayelitsha should should be established to ensure An urgent change-management longer-term strategic review should adopt a Community adopt a procedural justice model that the ineciencies at process should be implemented should be implemented findings and Policing Commitment (CPC) in of policing, in keeping with the Khayelitsha’s police stations and by the leadership of the consultation with local residents ‘daodil principle’ FCS unit are eradicated Khayelitsha cluster, FCS Unit and recommendations three police stations contained in this report may assist in enhancing the 6 7 8 9 10 safety of the people Visible Policing Human Resources SAPS-Civilian Relations Human Resource Station Performance of Khayelitsha.” Practices Charts The Provincial Commissioner The SAPS system for determining Additional steps should be taken should issue guidelines for the THRR should be revised and to improve relations between Human resource practices The station performance chart ~~ The Commission’s letter to visible policing in informal the human resources at each of SAPS and the people of should be reviewed should be revised to improve Premier Helen Zille, neighbourhoods Khayelitsha’s three police Khayelitsha relations between SAPS and the 18 August 2014 stations should be urgently community reallocated

11 12 13 14 15

Vengeance Killings Youth Gangs Shebeens Domestic Violence Information Technology & Attacks A multi-sectoral task team on A provincial task team should be A number of measures, including A strategic task team should be Vigilantism should be dealt with youth gangs should be set up to survey community training courses and research set up by the Provincial by SAPS in a more systematic established by DOCS attitudes to unlicensed liquor programmes, should be adopted Commissioner and Secretariat to manner outlets in order to assist policy to address domestic violence develop a policy approach to IT formulation

16 17 18 19 20

Complaints Government & Oversight CCTV Cameras Infrastructure Laboratory Backlogs

The system by which complaints DOCS and the Civilian Secretariat The system of CCTV surveillance The physical infrastructure of the The backlogs in Cape Town’s are lodged against SAPS should for Police should assume more in Khayelitsha should be Khayelitsha police stations national chemical laboratories be revised to allow for greater active roles in monitoring the improved through a collaborative should be upgraded and the new should be urgently addressed by fairness and objectivity three Khayelitsha stations and eort between senior SAPS Makhaza police station should be the Premier the FCS Unit members and City ocials established 1 2 3 4 5 Community Policing Procedural Justice Monitoring & Oversight Change-Management Detective Services Commitment Model of Policing Process A monitoring and oversight team Four immediate measures and a Each police station in Khayelitsha The police in Khayelitsha should should be established to ensure An urgent change-management longer-term strategic review should adopt a Community adopt a procedural justice model that the ineciencies at process should be implemented should be implemented Policing Commitment (CPC) in of policing, in keeping with the Khayelitsha’s police stations and by the leadership of the consultation with local residents ‘daodil principle’ FCS unit are eradicated Khayelitsha cluster, FCS Unit and three police stations

6 7 8 9 10

Visible Policing Human Resources SAPS-Civilian Relations Human Resource Station Performance Practices Charts The Provincial Commissioner The SAPS system for determining Additional steps should be taken should issue guidelines for the THRR should be revised and to improve relations between Human resource practices The station performance chart visible policing in informal the human resources at each of SAPS and the people of should be reviewed should be revised to improve neighbourhoods Khayelitsha’s three police Khayelitsha relations between SAPS and the stations should be urgently community reallocated

11 12 13 14 15

16 17 18 19 20

Complaints Government & Oversight CCTV Cameras Infrastructure Laboratory Backlogs

Recommendations ~ 103 104 ~ Recommendations Our Constitution tells us that every More recently, another positive Afterword citizen has the right to participate outcome has been SAPS’s decision to meaningfully in government. Legisla- set up a Joint Forum – among the first tion like the SAPS Act and the Western of its kind – in which police members Cape Safety Act place an obligation in Khayelitsha continue to engage with upon national and provincial govern- the complainant organisations as well “The South African Police ments to facilitate public participation as representatives from the provincial Service holds a view that the via official forums – such as CPFs and and city governments. Commission of Inquiry was not ward committees. It has been more than a year since necessary … [and] that the find- These create useful and necessary the report was presented to Premier democratic channels through which Zille and still the struggle for safety ings and recommendations of citizens can play a meaningful part and justice in Khayelitsha has barely the Commission are biased and in political and legislative decision- begun. Comprehensive solutions have misdirected.” making. But why should participatory been proposed on paper but until they government end there, especially are implemented they will remain as ~~ General Ria Phiyega where accountability is concerned? ineffectual as a misplaced docket. SAPS National Commissioner The grassroots Campaign for In early August 2015, the Comm- 5 June 2015 Safety and Justice in Khayelitsha, like ission’s work was dealt a blow when Equal Education’s National Campaign Premier Zille announced that the The report published by the O’Regan- for Minimum Norms and Standards, National Commissioner of SAPS, Pikoli Commission has exposed a long proves that a social movement can General Ria Phiyega, had “denied, track-record of inefficiency, callous- bring about real change. And yet, in disputed or redirected to [the Western ness, brutality and injustice on the both cases – when channels for public Cape Provincial Government and part of SAPS in Khayelitsha, as well participation were found wanting – it the City of Cape Town]” every single as mismanagement at provincial and took a court battle to persuade the recommendation. national levels. government to cooperate. Looking ahead, it is therefore up In doing so, and in presenting From the outset of its inquiry, the to us as citizens to ensure that the government with 20 detailed recom- O’Regan-Pikoli Commission was Commission’s recommendations are mendations to address these prob- acutely aware of the need for public vindicated by implementation, and lems, the Commission has initiated a involvement. For this reason, its that another 20 years of democracy new phase in the struggle for safety recommendations included a legal do not pass before Khayelitsha – and and justice, one which extends far foundation upon which members of every other working-class community beyond Khayelitsha to all of South the community can engage over issues in South Africa – is transformed into a Africa’s deprived working-class areas. such as school safety, street lighting safe and secure living environment for What does this new phase hold? and gang prevention. its residents. Such a question is best answered by looking back at what the campaign for safety and justice in Khayelitsha has shown us. For almost two years, the Commission’s six-member team per- It has been more than a year since formed their duties with extraordinary integrity, efficiency and determination. the report was presented to Premier The achievement of their work, however, was also in no small part due Zille and still the struggle for safety to the decade-long struggle that made the Commission possible – a struggle and justice in Khayelitsha has barely for which the people of Khayelitsha (who campaigned for years under begun. Comprehensive solutions have the banners of the SJC, TAC, EE, Free Gender, the Triangle Project and NU) been proposed on paper but until they should be acknowledged. Their victory has kept alight a glimmer of hope are implemented they will remain as for South Africa’s most vulnerable citizens, and it has taught our coun- ineffectual as a misplaced docket try something very profound about people’s power.

Afterword ~ 105 106 ~ Afterword It is up to us as citizens to ensure that the Commission’s recommendations are vindicated by implementation, and that another 20 years of democracy do not pass before Khayelitsha – and every other working-class community in South Africa – is transformed into a safe and secure living environment for its residents

Afterword ~ 107

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to:

Advocate Pete Hathorn Advocate Ncumisa Mayosi Advocate Michael Bishop Ms Mandy Mudarikwa

The members and staff of the Social Justice Coalition and Ndifuna Ukwazi Safety and Justice Task Team, the Treatment Action Campaign, Equal Education, Free Gender and the Triangle Project.

And all of the individuals, organisations and institutions whose support and contributions made the Commission, and this publication, possible. ‘Eiselen line’...... 4 Index Employee Health and Wellness (EHW)...... 73, 74 Equal Education (EE)...... ix, 36, 105 EUPOLSA Index...... 54

Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) Units ...... 68, 73, 100-101 ‘A young boy from Taiwan, Site C’...... 18 Fick, Major General Reneé...... 68 Abrahams, Faisel...... 49 Fish, Joy...... 79, 80 Achmat, Zackie...... 14, 19, 21 Free Gender...... ix, 14, 45, 105 Alcohol – see also Shebeens...... 25, 36, 46-48, 103 Anti-Land Invasion Unit...... ix, 15 Giliomee, Thys...... 48 Artz, Professor Lillian...... 40 Gillespie, Dr Kelly...... 31 Gobodo-Madikizela, Professor Pumla...... 31, 32, 80 Ballard, Clare...... 79 Government Basson, Sonja...... 39, 75 –– complaints & oversight – see DOCS and IPID Bawa, Advocate Nazreen...... x, xiii, 68 –– health care & forensics. . .19, 35, 36, 65, 88, 94, 95-98, 103 Bontshi, Nomakhuma...... 34 –– infrastructure ...... 60 -65, 90-93, 103 Bosman, Richard...... 91 –– testimonies ...... 87-99 Bregman, Joel ...... 18, 49 –– see also Anti-Land Invasion Unit, City of Cape Town, Law Burton, Patrick...... 37 Enforcement Department, Khayelitsha Magistrate’s Court, Metro Police, National Prosecuting Authority and Western CCTV cameras ...... 91, 103 Cape Provincial Government City of Cape Town ...... ix, xi, 15, 47, 68, 87, 90-93, 94, 105 Civilian Secretariat...... 53, 79, 102 Harare (SAPS station/precinct) ...... xi, 2-3, 24-25, 31, 35, Coloured Labour Preference Policy (CLPP)...... 4-5 39, 40, 44, 53, 66, 71, 91, 94 Commission of Inquiry, O’Regan-Pikoli Harmse, Rochelle ...... 31, 46, 73 –– inspections in loco...... xi, xiii, 91 Harri, Colonel Sonja ...... 73, 74 –– origins...... ix-x Harrison, Dr David (Lovelife)...... 36 –– preparations & public hearings...... ix-xi, 2-3 Hathorn, Advocate Peter ...... 66, 89, 108 –– purpose...... xi Human Rights Watch ...... 45 –– recommendations...... 101-103 –– report – see Towards a Safer Khayelitsha Igglesden, Vicki ...... 44 Community Police Forums (CPFs)...... 39, 49, 53, 88, 105 Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD) – see IPID Community Service Centres (CSCs)...... 55 Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID).22, 53, 79, 88 Community...... –– children...... 10, 15, 18, 36-39, 40, 43, 73, 95-98 Jacobs, Major General Peter...... 48 –– domestic & gender-based violence. . . . .14, 19, 21, 28-30, Jephta, Major General Sharon ...... 55, 82, 88 40-43, 46, 88, 103 Josias, Dr Genine...... 92, 95-98 –– forced removals...... 4-9, 15 –– foreign nationals...... xi, 44, 45, 75 Kaminer, Professor Debra...... 36 –– LGBTI...... 14, 44, 45, 74 Khayelitsha...... 1 –– campaign to bring about Commission...... ix, xi, 105 –– crime statistics...... 24-25 –– relations with SAPS. . . .8, 22-23, 28-30, 31, 34, 40-43, 44, –– demographics and socio-economic conditions . . . . 10-11 45, 46-48, 49, 74, 76, 95-98, 102-103 –– map...... 2-3 –– testimonies ...... 27-49 –– origins and history...... 4-9 –– youth gangs...... 21, 36-39, 102 Khayelitsha Magistrate’s Court. . . . . 3, 18, 21, 31, 40, 43, 46, ‘Complainant organisations’. . . ix, xi, 13, 15, 18, 80, 82, 90, 105 72-73, 99 Constitutional Court ...... x-xi, 53 –– see also Senior Public Prosecutor Crime Administration System (CAS)...... 54 Khayelitsha Site B (SAPS station/precinct). . . . .2, 23, 25, 44, Crime Intelligence Officer (CIO)...... 55, 56, 80-81 53, 66, 71, 79 Crime statistics...... 24-25 Klatzow, Dr David...... 65 Crossroads...... 4-5, 7-8 Koornof, Dr Piet...... 5 KTC township...... 5, 7-8 De Kock, Dr Chris...... 24, 80-81 Department of Community Safety (DOCS). . . xi, 79, 88-89, 102 Lamoer, Lieutenant General Arno ...... 21, 67, 68, 77, 88 Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP)...... 14, 15, 17, 99 Law Enforcement Department...... 15, 88 Dissel, Amanda ...... x Lawrence, Dr Gilbert...... 88-89 Dladla, Brigadier Zithulele...... 66, 71, 88, 91 Leholo, Thabo...... 22, 88 Dockets...... 53, 55, 68, 82 Lingelethu West (SAPS station/precinct). . . 2-3, 23, 25, 53, 60, –– backlog of...... 35, 70-73 66, 68, 72, 76 –– incomplete...... 17, 18, 19, 22-23, 34, 70, 80 Lookout Hill...... xi, xii, 2 –– lost...... 18, 21, 43, 71-72, 99 Loonat, Hanif ...... 49 Domestic Violence Act...... 42, 43 Dwane, Yoliswa ...... 36, 44 Mahlutshana, Madoda...... 36 Makeke, Nandipha...... ix, 21 ‘Eight Original Complainants’...... 13-23, 72 Makele, Welcome...... 43 Makhaza (future SAPS station/precinct) ...... 3, 66, 103 Simkins, Professor Charles...... 10 Mantshantsha, Nokuzolo...... 15 Social Justice Coalition (SJC)...... v, ix, 17, 18, 22, 23, 36, Marais, Colonel Johan...... 62-64, 65, 71-72 43, 44, 45, 49, 105 Masuku, Advocate Thabani...... 62, 64 Soldaat, Funeka...... 45 Mayosi, Advocate Ncumisa...... 66, 83, 89, 108 Sonke Gender Justice...... 14 Metro Police...... ix, 15, 47, 88 South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC)...... 79 Mlenga, Brigadier Aaron ...... 76 South African National Civic Organisation (SANCO)...... 39 Mlofana, Lorna...... ix, 19 South African Police Service (SAPS) Mlungwana, Phumeza ...... 36, 44, 45, 48, 49 –– arrest, detention and release ...... 14, 17, 18, 21, 23, Molo, Major General David...... 60, 65, 82 40-43, 65, 76-77 Mosaic...... 41, 43, 94 –– clusters...... xi, 53, 56, 71, 74, 76, 79, 103 Moseneke, Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang...... x-xi –– code of conduct...... 57, 76 Mpekweni, Vuyiswa...... 28-30 –– crime administration & statistics ...... 52-56, 80 Mthente survey ...... 24, 31 –– crime scene management...... 55, 60-65, 80 Mthethwa, Nathi (former Minister of Police) ...... x –– crime intelligence...... 44, 52, 56, 73, 80-81 Mtsolo, Bishop...... 49 –– detectives...... 55, 60-65, 70-72, 76, 79, 82, 94, 103 Mtwana, Nontuthuzelo...... 49 –– detective-to-citizen ratios...... 71 –– feedback & communication ...... 18, 19, 22-23, 30, 35, National Prosecuting Authority (NPA)...... ix, 14, 99 46, 82-83, 103 –– see also Director of Public Prosecutions –– history...... 52 Ncaphancapha, Nokuzola...... 39 –– human resources. . . . .52-54, 62-64, 66-73, 80, 102-103 Ncisana, Kate...... xi, 8 –– inspections and discipline...... 78-79 Ncisana, Nondumiso...... 8 –– institutional culture ...... 73-76 ND, Ms...... 40 –– jurisdictions in Khayelitsha...... 2-3 Neighbourhood Watch ...... 39, 49, 88 –– performance evaluation...... 54 Nel, Colonel Gert ...... 31 –– physical resources...... 68, 82, 103 ‘New Crossroads’...... 5 –– ranks...... 56 Ndifuna Ukwazi (NU)...... ix, 14, 105 –– reservists...... 55, 88 Ngongwana, Adelaide...... 22, 23 –– recruitment & training...... 80 Nkonyana, Zoliswa...... 14, 45 –– structures and functions...... 51-57 ‘Nodal Point’...... 55, 88 –– support services...... 55 Nonceba Family Counselling...... 94 –– testimonies ...... 59-83 Ntsholo, Andile...... 34 –– visible policing...... 36, 53, 55, 56, 76, 80-81, 102 Ntsilane, Nomfanekiso...... 43 St George’s Cathedral...... 5, 8 Nyanga...... 2, 4-5 Station Crime Combating Forum (SCCF)...... 80 NZ, Ms ...... 94 Suzman, Helen...... 7 Swart, Jan...... 71-72, 82 O’Regan, Justice Kate (Chairperson). . . ix, xiii, 8, 28, 30, 47, 62, Swart, Lieutenant Colonel Barend...... 72, 74, 80, 82 64, 70, 78, 79, 95 Tait, Sean...... 79 Performance Enhancement Process (PEP)...... 54 Tame, Mzoxolo...... 35 Peter, Angy...... 23 Task Team...... 15, 19, 21, 22, 23, 79 Phiyega, General Ria...... 105 Theoretical Human Resource Requirement (THRR). . . . 54, 66 Pikoli, Advoate Vusi (Commissioner). . . . . x, xiii, 8, 28, 47, 62, Thompson, Vonita ...... 94 64, 79, 81, 97 Thosholo, Beauty...... 46 Pillay, Captain Dhanabalan ...... 72 Thuthuzela Care Centre...... 40, 73, 94-98 Police – see SAPS Tobias, Colonel Andrew ...... 30 Provincial Inspectorate...... 55, 79, 94 Towards a Safer Khayelitsha (Commission report) . . . ix, 69, 76, 80, 105 Qezo, Makhosandile ‘Scare’...... 17 Treatment Action Campaign (TAC)...... ix, 14, 19, 21, 105 Triangle Project ...... ix, 14, 105 Rabie, Brigadier Leon...... 66 Tshabalala, Lieutenant General Sean...... 15 Raboliba, Colonel Tshotleho ...... 66 Tygerberg Mortuary ...... 94 Rape Crisis...... 40, 94 Rawuza, Khangelani (Administrator)...... x Van Eyk, Dr Mulder...... 80 Redpath, Jean...... 24, 66 Vetten, Professor Lisa...... 40, 43 Reitz, Colonel Michael...... 60, 66, 68, 71 Vigilantism (or vengeance attacks)...... 31-35, 71, 102 Resource Allocation Guide (RAG)...... 54, 66, 71, 73 Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading (VPUU). . . . 49

‘SAPS Act’...... 22, 52, 53, 56, 68, 105 ‘Wachthuis’...... 52 Schlebusch, Johan ...... 79, 80 Ward, Professor Catherine...... 36 ‘Schooling and Leamy Report’ ...... 76 Western Cape High Court...... x, xii Seekings, Professor Jeremy...... 10, 91 Western Cape Provincial Government. . . ix, x, 15, 47, 48, 88-99 Senior Public Prosecutor (SPP)...... 15, 18, 23, 31, 46 Wiese, Colonel Alma...... 71, 76 Shebeens...... 19, 46, 48, 103 Sidaki, Advocate Thembalihle...... x, xiii, 28, 30, 95, 97-98 Zille, Premier Helen ...... ix, x, 13, 15, 105 Simelela, Nomamerika...... 34 Zitwana, Sifiso...... 39

FLAP: 95mm FOLD Intside Cover: Safety, Justice & People’s Power Draft 8: 02 March 2016 SPINE: 10.5mm BOOK WIDTH: 231.5mm (230mm + 1.5mm over foredge for cover)FLAP: 95mm FOLDFOLD Outside Cover:FLAP: Safety, 95mm Justice & People’s Power Draft 8: 02 March 2016 SPINE: 10.5mm BOOK WIDTH: 231.5mm (230mm + 1.5mm over foredge for cover) FOLD FLAP: 95mm SAFETY, JUSTICE & PEOPLE’S POWER

reinforce the Commission’s ndings and recommendations.BOOK HEIGHT: 275mm Commission was established. BOOK HEIGHT: 275mm

Because all people are equally entitled to a safe and digniﬁed existence, this book seeks to revive and reinforce the Commission’s indispensible evidence, ﬁndings and

recommendations. A Companion to the O’Regan-Pikoli Commission of Inquiry of O’Regan-Pikoli the Commission to Companion A

Onwards to a safer Khayelitsha and a safer South Africa!

FOLD FOLDFOLD FOLD FLAP: 95mm FOLD Outside Cover: Safety, Justice & People’s Power Draft 8: 02 March 2016 SPINE: 10.5mm BOOK WIDTH: 231.5mm (230mm + 1.5mm over foredge for cover) FOLD FLAP: 95mm SAFETY, JUSTICE & PEOPLE’S POWER

reinforce the Commission’s ndings and recommendations. Commission was established. BOOK HEIGHT: 275mm

Because all people are equally entitled to a safe and digniﬁed existence, this book seeks to revive and reinforce the Commission’s indispensible evidence, ﬁndings and

recommendations. A Companion to the O’Regan-Pikoli Commission of Inquiry of O’Regan-Pikoli the Commission to Companion A

Onwards to a safer Khayelitsha and a safer South Africa!

FOLD FOLD