This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/01/south-african-police-spotlight-needed
The article has changed 6 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 4 | Version 5 |
|---|---|
| South African police van death: spotlight needed if change is to come | South African police van death: spotlight needed if change is to come |
| (4 months later) | |
| South Africans are tired of being at the forefront of the global media. We have been there a lot lately – for all the wrong reasons.First it was the Marikana massacre, when the police gunned down 34 striking mineworkers within minutes last August. The Economist put us on its cover for that, saying we are in "sad decline". Then it was Oscar Pistorius shooting his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. Time magazine has put us on the cover for that, bemoaning our violent culture. | South Africans are tired of being at the forefront of the global media. We have been there a lot lately – for all the wrong reasons.First it was the Marikana massacre, when the police gunned down 34 striking mineworkers within minutes last August. The Economist put us on its cover for that, saying we are in "sad decline". Then it was Oscar Pistorius shooting his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. Time magazine has put us on the cover for that, bemoaning our violent culture. |
| And much was made of the news that the investigating officer in the case, Hilton Botha, is up on charges of shooting at a taxi with seven passengers on board. Not long before that was the gang rape and murder of 17-year-old Anene Booysen. | And much was made of the news that the investigating officer in the case, Hilton Botha, is up on charges of shooting at a taxi with seven passengers on board. Not long before that was the gang rape and murder of 17-year-old Anene Booysen. |
| Now this: mobile-phone footage of Mozambican taxi driver Mido Macia handcuffed to the back of a police van and dragged behind it – after an alleged parking dispute – surfaced this week. On Friday eight police officers were arrested over Macia's death; but only after a global outcry. | Now this: mobile-phone footage of Mozambican taxi driver Mido Macia handcuffed to the back of a police van and dragged behind it – after an alleged parking dispute – surfaced this week. On Friday eight police officers were arrested over Macia's death; but only after a global outcry. |
| The composite that emerges is disturbing: a country that is globally at the top of the pile for murder and rape (65,000 people were raped last year in a country of 50 million); an incompetent police force that is quick to pull the trigger; a populace awash with guns (Pistorius allegedly slept with one at his bedside and a rifle on the window sill). We are not nice people, are we? | The composite that emerges is disturbing: a country that is globally at the top of the pile for murder and rape (65,000 people were raped last year in a country of 50 million); an incompetent police force that is quick to pull the trigger; a populace awash with guns (Pistorius allegedly slept with one at his bedside and a rifle on the window sill). We are not nice people, are we? |
| But it is worth remembering that the majority of us do not sleep with guns by our bedside, and we sleep easy. Not many of us are rapists, or murder our wives. There are about 190,000 police officers in South Africa, and not all of them are brutes of the type who dragged Macia through the streets of Daveyton. | But it is worth remembering that the majority of us do not sleep with guns by our bedside, and we sleep easy. Not many of us are rapists, or murder our wives. There are about 190,000 police officers in South Africa, and not all of them are brutes of the type who dragged Macia through the streets of Daveyton. |
| We just want the world to look away. We don't want to be in the spotlight. We want people to ask us about Nelson Mandela when we travel abroad, instead of asking about the crime rate. | We just want the world to look away. We don't want to be in the spotlight. We want people to ask us about Nelson Mandela when we travel abroad, instead of asking about the crime rate. |
| Yet, whatever our aversion to being scrutinised so closely, the truth is that issues highlighted in the foreign media lately do cut to the deep problems that we have failed to deal with in South Africa. When the police dragged Macia behind a van this week, it was not as if these things do not happen. | Yet, whatever our aversion to being scrutinised so closely, the truth is that issues highlighted in the foreign media lately do cut to the deep problems that we have failed to deal with in South Africa. When the police dragged Macia behind a van this week, it was not as if these things do not happen. |
| They happen all the time. The most interesting part of the mobile-phone footage of Macia's ordeal was the fact that many of the spectators were using their phones to take pictures or videos. | They happen all the time. The most interesting part of the mobile-phone footage of Macia's ordeal was the fact that many of the spectators were using their phones to take pictures or videos. |
| The perpetrators were nonplussed by this. In fact, they turned up at work the next day and the day after as if nothing had happened. As one woman said, they expected applause from residents. | The perpetrators were nonplussed by this. In fact, they turned up at work the next day and the day after as if nothing had happened. As one woman said, they expected applause from residents. |
| That is because they have been told by politicians since President Jacob Zuma ascended to power in 2009 that they should "act tough" against alleged lawbreakers. | That is because they have been told by politicians since President Jacob Zuma ascended to power in 2009 that they should "act tough" against alleged lawbreakers. |
| "We cannot say to the police, retreat. We cannot say to South Africans, despair. Our job is to give people hope. Yes. Shoot the bastards. Hard-nut to crack, incorrigible bastards," said Zuma's then-deputy police minister Fikile Mbalula in 2009. | "We cannot say to the police, retreat. We cannot say to South Africans, despair. Our job is to give people hope. Yes. Shoot the bastards. Hard-nut to crack, incorrigible bastards," said Zuma's then-deputy police minister Fikile Mbalula in 2009. |
| Since then numerous names have graced our front pages in cases of police brutality. Atlegang Aphane, a three-year-old, was shot and killed by a policeman allegedly because he suspected the boy was holding a gun. Olga Kekana was shot and killed by officers who suspected her of driving a stolen car. They gave no warning and they fled the scene. These officers are still in the South African police. They haven't been arrested. Then there was Marikana, a grotesque show in which the state arrested, and in some instances allegedly tortured, the survivors of the massacre – and charged them with the murder of their own comrades. | Since then numerous names have graced our front pages in cases of police brutality. Atlegang Aphane, a three-year-old, was shot and killed by a policeman allegedly because he suspected the boy was holding a gun. Olga Kekana was shot and killed by officers who suspected her of driving a stolen car. They gave no warning and they fled the scene. These officers are still in the South African police. They haven't been arrested. Then there was Marikana, a grotesque show in which the state arrested, and in some instances allegedly tortured, the survivors of the massacre – and charged them with the murder of their own comrades. |
| Police top brass said at the time the perpetrators should not be sorry for what happened. | Police top brass said at the time the perpetrators should not be sorry for what happened. |
| This culture of acceptance of police brutality is what killed the taxi driver Mido Macia this week. | This culture of acceptance of police brutality is what killed the taxi driver Mido Macia this week. |
| It will not end. In his state of the nation speech in February, Zuma promised an "iron fist" against protesters, without saying a word about police brutality. | It will not end. In his state of the nation speech in February, Zuma promised an "iron fist" against protesters, without saying a word about police brutality. |
| We South Africans have kept quiet while this was being done in our name. In a sense, we are like the white South Africans who kept quiet while apartheid was being perpetrated in their name. We all know that the culture of police brutality, of guns in the homes of some of us, diminishes all of us. Yet we kept quiet, and are now fatigued by all the attention from across the globe. | We South Africans have kept quiet while this was being done in our name. In a sense, we are like the white South Africans who kept quiet while apartheid was being perpetrated in their name. We all know that the culture of police brutality, of guns in the homes of some of us, diminishes all of us. Yet we kept quiet, and are now fatigued by all the attention from across the globe. |
| It should continue. If South Africa is to halt the slide into wanton police brutality and ludicrously low convictions in cases of violence against women and children, then these cases have to come into the light – and the international spotlight, too. | It should continue. If South Africa is to halt the slide into wanton police brutality and ludicrously low convictions in cases of violence against women and children, then these cases have to come into the light – and the international spotlight, too. |
| We might not like it, but for this to stop – and for us not to lead the diminished lives we now live – the light has to continue to shine on South Africa. | We might not like it, but for this to stop – and for us not to lead the diminished lives we now live – the light has to continue to shine on South Africa. |
| Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning. | Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning. |