Johannesburg - The murder of celebrities and high-profile
people such as Bafana Bafana captain Senzo Meyiwa often galvanises the public
to help prevent crime, an analyst said on Tuesday.
"Anywhere in the world, far more attention would be
given to the murder of the captain of a high profile national sports team than
a person who has a low public profile," Institute for Security Studies (ISS)
governance, crime, and justice division head Gareth Newham said.
"This is because many people already know who the
victim is because of their high public profile and therefore are more affected
when that person is murdered. When people don’t know the victim of a murder
they are less affected by it."
However, this did not necessarily mean the public was
apathetic and fickle.
"It is difficult for the public to reduce crimes
such as armed robberies or firearm murders," Newham said.
"In fact it is not desirable for members of the
public to start arming themselves to confront armed criminals.
"This leads to increased vigilantism and the
collapse of the rule of law which negatively affects the stability of a
country.
"It is often high-profile murders that assist to
galvanise more people into taking action such as joining community police
forums or providing information on the whereabouts of criminals to the
police," Newham said.
Meyiwa, the national soccer team and Orlando Pirates
captain and goalkeeper, was shot dead by robbers in Vosloorus, Ekurhuleni,
while visiting his girlfriend, singer and actress Kelly Khumalo, on Sunday
night.
Task team
National police commissioner Riah Phiyega announced on
Monday that she had set up a multi-disciplinary task team made up of forensic,
crime intelligence, and visible policing members to handle the murder case.
A reward of up R250 000 was being offered for information
that could lead to the arrest and conviction of the killers.
Recently, the murder trials of Paralympian Oscar
Pistorius and British businessman Shrien Dewani have captured the interest of
the public and the media.
Last Tuesday, Pistorius was sentenced in the North
Gauteng High Court in Pretoria to five years in prison for the culpable
homicide killing of his girlfriend, law graduate and model Reeva Steenkamp.
He was also sentenced to three years in jail, suspended
for five years, for discharging a firearm at Tasha's restaurant in Sandton,
Johannesburg, in January 2013.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said on Monday
the State would appeal against Pistorius's conviction of culpable homicide and
the sentence he received.
Dewani's trial is currently underway.
He is accused of the murder of his wife Anni Hindocha
during their honeymoon in Cape Town. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of
murder, kidnapping, robbery with aggravating circumstances, conspiracy to
commit these crimes, and defeating the ends of justice.
Dewani claims the couple were hijacked as they were being
driven through Gugulethu on Saturday, November 13, 2010. He was released
unharmed and Anni driven away. She was found shot dead in the abandoned minibus
in Khayelitsha the next morning.
The State alleges he conspired with others to stage the
hijacking in return for R15 000.
Criminal justice
system
Newham said the criminal justice system needed to be
improved if people were to have more faith in it and work more closely with it.
"There will always be some level of crime, and it
will always mostly be 'underground'. However, it can be managed so that it does
not pose the type of major risk to the public that it currently does," he
said.
"To reduce armed robberies it is important to
appoint the best possible people to head the SA Police Service [SAPS]."
Newham said the National Development Plan (NDP)
recommended that a multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary national police board
be established to ensure that this happened.
"While there are very experienced senior police
officials, too many people have been appointed into top positions without the
necessary skills, experience, and dedication to integrity."
He said the country continued to see "serial crises
of top management" in the SAPS, as some honest officers were allegedly
targeted for removal, while corrupt officers were allegedly protected.
"This situation causes mistrust and low morale among
the senior officers who are then unable to put plans in place to use the
considerable police resources available to reduce robberies," Newham said.
"This is why we keep seeing the establishment of
task teams to respond to specific incidents, rather than clear strategies to
improve policing generally."
Newham said it also had to be recognised that much
violence, including most murders, rapes, and assaults were interpersonal in
nature.
"To reduce this violence, we need to invest more in
social workers, improving teachers and front-line health workers."
No clear
strategies
For two consecutive years murders, attempted murders, and
armed robberies had increased exponentially, demonstrating that there were no
clear strategies to address the problem.
"We need to start implementing the NDP as a matter
of urgency," Newham said.
"The NDP has sound recommendations for
professionalising the SAPS and developing an integrated approach for crime
reduction. We therefore welcome the statement by the minister of police that he
will be guided by the NDP."
It was reported on Sunday that a "reference
group" was established by Police Minister Nathi Nhleko to look into
appointments, suspensions, and disciplinary and criminal proceedings involving
senior police management.
Nhleko's spokesperson Musa Zondi said the committee's six
members, who he did not name, were not from the police, but "experts in
their own fields".
The committee would reportedly probe Phiyega for
allegedly warning Western Cape police commissioner Arno Lamoer that he was
being investigated for his alleged links to drug lords, the suspension of
police crime intelligence unit head Richard Mdluli, and claims that
KwaZulu-Natal Hawks head Major General Johan Booysen was being targeted.
