Online platform to report police, army violence
With the spotlight firmly on South Africa’s official security apparatus following the sometimes brutal enforcement of South Africa’s coronavirus lockdown by police and the army, a coalition of human rights organisations calling itself C19 is documenting those abuses, hoping the data gathered will drive reform.
In the latest incidence of police violence, a 16-year-old with Down Syndrome was shot by an officer and later died at a hospital, further staining the already soiled reputation of the South African Police Force (SAPS).
Now, a new website that allows South Africans to report police brutality has drawn input from across the country, mainly from townships in large cities.
Users can click on a province where an incident occured and lay their complaint.
Accountability now
“Documentation of abuses is critical for accountability, otherwise officials won’t see a reason to change.”
Thato Masiangoako, researcher for the Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa (SERI).
SAPS spokesman Vish Naidoo said individuals were “welcome to play an oversight role on security forces,” but that “it is senseless going to a website and complaining without opening a criminal case otherwise nothing will be done about it.”
More than two decades after the end of oppressive white minority rule, South Africa remains one of the most unequal countries in the world, according to the World Bank, with urban areas starkly divided along racial lines.
While the lockdown has spotlighted abuses, this is not a new phenomenon, said Masiangoako, whose organisation uses litigation and advocacy to bolster human rights.
More than 42,000 complaints were made about the police between 2012 and 2019, including rape, killings and torture, according to the police watchdog, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID).
But a strict coronavirus lockdown has thrust the issue into the spotlight, with human rights groups accusing police and the army of using disproportionate force in low-income areas.
‘Demand for change’
More than 100 people have reported beatings, verbal abuse, torture and humiliation to the online violence tracker since it launched in April, 80% of them from low-income areas.
Rights activists say that is likely the tip of the iceberg. Masiangoako said the police watchdog was already investigating at least 10 deaths under lockdown, and that tracker tools could help those unable to take action against the security forces.
“Our hope is to get a large pool of data together to highlight behaviour patterns.”
Nathanial Roloff, director of Safety Lab, which implements projects to mitigate violent crime and helped build the tracker website.
The site and hotline are monitored by coalition members and any urgent issues are forwarded to organisations that can help, Roloff said.
“Attempts to report police in the past have been met with silence or long processes, rarely with justice,” added Roloff.
South Africa has seen its own version of the Black Lives Matter protests that began in the United States in May and which spread across the globe.
In June, protesters gathered in different South African cities carrying placards bearing the names of George Floyd, a Black American man who died in police custody, and South African Collins Khosa, who died in Alexandra township on April 10.
Khosa died after soldiers crashed into his home and beat him with a rifle after seeing a cup of what they said was alcohol in his yard, according to his lawyer.
“Public officials count on energy dying down, and the focus shifting. But what we are seeing is a sustained and persistent demand for change,” said Masiangoako.
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