Six stats which highlight South Africa’s own ‘police brutality’ problem

It’s been 13 days since George Floyd was killed within nine minutes by a heavy-handed police officer. The incident has sparked a global chain reaction, with protests reaching every corner of a locked-down planet. The government has been vocal in supporting the cause, but police brutality isn’t exclusive to the USA.

In fact, the stats a little closer to home will make for tough viewing on behalf of the ruling party: Shadow police minister Andrew Whitfield has produced a document highlighting the complaints received by IPID over the past five years. They paint an extremely uncomfortable picture for our domestic authorities.

Police brutality in South Africa

Almost 30 000 police brutality cases have been reported in SA, between 2014 – 2019. That comes with a shockingly low conviction rate, and over 96% of officers haven’t even faced disciplinary action. The stats also reveal that, in the first few weeks of lockdown, complaints of over-zealous policing skyrocketed.

• Complaints increased by 30% during lockdown.
• There were 29 892 reports of police brutality filed since 2014/15.
• A total of 99 people reported they had been raped in police custody.
• In fact, complaints regarding ‘rape by a police officer’ hit a five-year high in 2019 (124).
• There have been more than 200 deaths per year in police custody over the past five years.
• Just 3.9% of all complaints against police brutality over the last five years went to a disciplinary. Only 1.3% were criminally convicted.
  

We have done an analysis on the last 5 years of complaints of police abuse referred to IPID. This analysis has exposed a deeply entrenched culture of state sanctioned violence due a lack of accountability and consequence for police abuse and brutality: pic.twitter.com/8kD9s1M0Fx

— Democratic Alliance (@Our_DA) June 7, 2020

Whitfield turns fire on Bheki Cele

The numbers have been shared by the DA representative over the weekend, and Whitfield used the opportunity to stick the boot in on his opposite number, Bheki Cele. The police minister has been accused of ‘fuelling’ a culture of police brutality, and his political opposite called on the controversial top cop to be sacked.

“The ANC government’s violent record of police abuse and the low rate of convictions is a national disgrace which exposes the party’s shameful hypocrisy. Last week the ANC launched a campaign against police brutality. This, while between 2018 and 2019, almost 6 000 citizens suffered police brutality under SAPS.”

“While the lockdown has seen an increase in complaints of police abuse – fueled by Minister Cele’s reckless comments and a state drunk on power – police abuse is nothing new to SA. The suffocating violence of the state must end. President Ramaphosa must remove Bheki Cele’s jackboot from the throats of the people.”

Andrew Whitfield