Abstract
In order for a single South African police station to operate optimally, or indeed at any level of functionality at all, it is required to form cooperative relations with a host of external institutions. This is in addition to ensuring that the internal structural capacity of a police station is maintained. The Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of Police Inefficiency and a Breakdown in Relations between SAPS and the Community in Khayelitsha identified shortcomings in both internal structures and the functioning of external relations. Here, we provide an overview of the stakeholders that make up the policing web in Khayelitsha. This forms the basis for clearer understandings of on-the-ground policing in this unsafe and violent neighbourhood.
Highlights
Their role as safety and security providers, the South African Police Service (SAPS) in Khayelitsha has displayed major failures
The SAPS Victim Empowerment Service manual outlines that an officer who comes into contact with a victim of crime must ensure the safety of the victim, arrange medical assistance if necessary, and preserve any possible evidence from the medical practitioner/hospital/clinic.[41]
In Khayelitsha, the ANC-aligned Khayelitsha Development Forum (KDF) and South African National Civics Organisation (SANCO) are powerful, and often come into opposition with Democratic Alliance (DA) supporters and organisations associated with the DA
Summary
In order for a single South African police station to operate optimally, or at any level of functionality at all, it is required to form cooperative relations with a host of external institutions. The police in Khayelitsha (in the absence of directives from the national commissioner or minister of police)[5] have been engaging with the commission’s recommendations and seeking to ‘bridge’ certain policing gaps This has manifested most prominently in the ‘Joints’ process, composed of SAPS station and cluster representatives, civil society organisations, local community and political leaders, and other police and government stakeholders. On 24 August, Police Minister Nathi Nhleko and Western Cape Premier Helen Zille released a joint statement announcing a task team to engage with and implement the recommendations of the commission.[9] Given these inconsistent messages coming from the ‘top’, the national police support for the Joints and other implementation initiatives is somewhat opaque This leaves SAPS Khayelitsha having to engage with multiple layers of politics: from internal SAPS politics to provincial and national political dynamics (because the commission propelled their work onto the national and media stages). We briefly assess the implications of this web of external and internal inter-workings
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