Limpopo cops accused of bias

2003-02-04 12:31

Sizwe samaYende

Louis Trichardt - Limpopo NGOs and legal researchers have accused police of deliberately ignoring, mismanaging and obstructing complaints against white farmers by black labourers or villagers.

They say police act harshly against workers accused of petty crimes, but allow farmers to get away with offences such as attempted murder.

Activists at the Nkuzi Development Association claim the police's attitude smacks of racism after they dragged their feet in investigating three farmers accused of attempted murder and employing illegal immigrants.

Nkuzi fieldworker Shirhami Shirinda claims: "We have instances where police act swiftly to address a farmer's complaint of poaching within a week, but they ignore a worker's complaint of attempted murder for months until it's forgotten."

Nkuzi has lodged a complaint against three police stations with Limpopo police commissioner Calvin Sengani.

Ronel Otto confirmed the complaints had been lodged.

Nkuzi claims it still is waiting for positive action from Bandelierkop police near Louis Trichardt, who have allegedly refused to investigate a case of attempted murder.

One man was hit in the leg

Bandelierkop police, claimed Shirinda, investigated farmer CT Steenkamp's complaint of poaching against six men within a week, but have not made any progress in investigations about him allegedly shooting one of the poachers.

Steenkamp allegedly caught the men hunting kudus on his Schoophoek farm on December 10.

The hunters ran away when they saw him and he allegedly fired, hitting one of them in the leg.

Phenyani Chauke went to Elim and Polokwane hospitals for treatment and has been discharged.

The farmer reported the poaching case on the same day that Chauke's relatives laid an attempted murder charge against him.

Steenkamp admitted to the police that he pulled a trigger, but said he shot a dog.

Police have still not gone to the scene, and have visited Chauke only once in hospital, Shirinda said. He added that an investigating officer ate the kudu, which could have been used as evidence. Institute for Security Studies (ISS) senior researcher, Martin Schönteish, said it was impossible to conclude that police were biased, unless it was established they were friends with the farmers.

Want to ensure their case is strong

He said the delays in police investigations could be attributed to a number of factors including waiting for ballistic test results, and a decision from the directorate of public prosecutions.

"Police may put in more effort [and delay] a case in order to make sure it's strong," he said. Chris Williams, the director for The Rural Action Committee (Trac), differed with Schönteish.

"This unequal justice has a lot to do with power differences between farmers and workers, and police competence," he said.

Williams claimed Limpopo's situation was comparable to Mpumalanga's after Trac had found a plethora of police apathy and negligence in cases involving workers' complaints, when the NGO conducted research for the Human Rights Commission (HRC) in 2001.

"There are some farmers who have 30 charges against them, but they still get away. But, when something happens against a farmer, the police deploy a task team to investigate," he said.

"Police need to be taught how smaller incidents on farms can lead to tragedies. They should start by thoroughly investigating minor charges such as eviction and crimen injuria."

Nkuzi also has lodged a complaint against Tolwe police station near Polokwane for allegedly refusing to investigate a farmer who is accused of shooting at a woman in order to chase her off his farm.

Shirinda said Maria Molapo was allegedly told not to come back on the farm after she stabbed a co-worker during a fight.

Belkop farm owner Joel Hoogenbosen allegedly told the woman to run and fired several times around her. Shirinda said Molapo laid a charge in August last year, but police still had not done anything.

Acted as a policeman

"We understand workers do wrong sometimes, but police need to show the same zeal when dealing with their complaints," Shirinda said.

In another instance, Shirinda was forced to act as a policeman at Louis Trichardt police station on December 12 after police said they "didn?t know what to do" about a farmer who had employed an illegal Zimbabwean.

Shirinda had to accompany police to Johannes Jakobs's Ten Trees Farm in Louis Trichardt to question him.

After the visit, police refused to investigate further and Shirinda had to return to the farm the next day, fill out forms of admission of guilt for the farmer to sign and take his fingerprints.

The only work the police did was to stamp the documents to validate them.

Shirinda's efforts paid off and Jakobs was fined R500 at the Louis Trichardt magistrate's court.

The Zimbabwean, Norman Ndou, 26, broke his leg while on duty and couldn't claim compensation because he was illegal and not registered with the department of labour. - African Eye News Service

- News24