SAHRC slams police brutality

2008-03-19 19:11

Johannesburg - Police brutality in SA needs to be stamped out, the SA Human Rights Commission (SARHC) said on Wednesday.

"South African society can ill-afford to have these kind of incidents reverse the positive strides that were made, and to let these incidents overshadow the otherwise good work that the majority of members of the SAPS perform day-in and day-out," the SAHRC said.

The commission was referring to recent raids by police at Stellenbosch night spots as well as on the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg.

In the raids, police allegedly assaulted a number of immigrants, patrons and some pub owners.

"The Commission wants to state unequivocally that recent police behaviour flies in the face of the South African Police Service's constitutional obligation to maintain public order, to protect and secure South Africa's inhabitants and their property, and to uphold and enforce the law," it said.

The SAHRC said it respected the role of the Independent Complaints Directorate as an independent government body tasked to investigate complaints of brutality, criminality and misconduct against members of the police.

However, it felt "compelled" to comment on matters where South African's human dignity and physical integrity was being compromised at the hands of State agencies.

Police raided the church - a home to hundreds of Zimbabwean immigrants - on January 30 and raided a number of Stellenbosch establishments, frequented by university students, earlier this month.

"We also want to state in no uncertain terms that the scourge of crime and violence that currently afflicts the country can never be forwarded as an excuse by members of the police to opt out of their human rights obligations that they are sworn to.

"The South African Police Service is on record admitting that negative attention and perceptions harm the credibility and image of the Service which has taken ninety-five years to develop from an autocratic apartheid force to a democratic institution based on human dignity, equality and freedom," said the SAHRC.

The commission said it called on police to draw a clear distinction between assertive policing and police brutality, and to effectively communicate that distinction to its members.

It also said all perpetrators within police ranks should be brought to book.

- SAPA