Safety and Security South Africa

High-Profile Murder Sparks Debate On Violent Crime

2007-02-01T11:29:00.000-08:00

Inter Press Service (Johannesburg): January 30, 2007
The murder of a world-renowned historian has jolted South Africa into confronting the reality of escalating violent crime, which is destroying the country's social fabric and hurting its international image.

David Rattray, an Anglo-Zulu war expert, was murdered Friday near his home, just 500 metres from the spot where British troops and Zulu warriors fought in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province 128 years ago.

Police are investigating the motives for this high-profile killing. So far, nobody has been arrested in connection with the shooting of Rattray, who will be buried in South Africa Thursday.

Rattray, 49, a friend of Britain's Prince Charles, has joined the list of the estimated 18,000 South Africans who are murdered every year -- an average of about 50 a day -- some over petty items like mobile phones.

Aware that the debate on crime could harm South Africa's image as the country prepares to host the football World Cup in 2010, the government is playing down the effects of the murder.

Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad told journalists Monday in Pretoria, the nation's capital, that South Africa should not allow itself "to be paralysed by individual incidents".

"Obviously the murder of someone of a high profile will definitely strengthen perceptions abroad about crimes in South Africa," he said.

"The murder of Mr. Rattray puts global focus on the crimes in South Africa," Pieter Mulder, leader of the Freedom Front Plus Party, told IPS in an interview. The Front is campaigning for the reinstatement of the death penalty, abolished in 1995, as a deterrent to violent crime.

"In three years, 2.5 million people fell victim to violent crimes such as murder, attempted murder, and robbery at private homes. This means more than 848,000 people fall victim to violent crime in South Africa every year," he said.

"From 1994 up to now, 272,000 people were murdered in South Africa. There is an increase of 8.3 percent in house robbery. These are the statistics of the police themselves," Mulder said. "This means people are feeling unsafe in their homes. And this makes South Africa the most unsafe country to live in."

Fed up with complaints about crime, safety and security, Minister Charles Nqakula was last year widely quoted by the media as saying that those who were unhappy with living in South Africa were free to leave. "Mr. Nqakula mentioned my name as one of those people," Mulder said.

Mulder urged President Thabo Mbeki and his ministers to refrain from sending confusing messages on crime. In the same breath, he rejected Mbeki's remark that crime rates have fallen by 10 percent since the demise of apartheid in 1994. "The world average for murder is five in every 100,000 of the population. In South Africa the figure is 40 in every 100,000. If this figure is compared to the world figures, South Africa is experiencing a very serious crime crisis which should immediately be acknowledged and addressed by government," Mulder said.

"What is worse is that on average only 10 percent of criminal cases end up in court," he added.

Among suggestions for addressing crime is to increase the police budget and the number of officers on the force, while also upgrading their training and providing them with the necessary logistics.

"Ministers travel in the latest Mercedes Benz. But if there's a break-in in one's home, police have no vehicle to transport themselves to the scene of the incident," Mohamed Zain, a businessman in Johannesburg, told IPS in an interview.

Zain's complaint, however, needs to be taken in context. In early January, Gauteng Province, where Johannesburg and Pretoria are located, bought 250 new vehicles to beef up crime fighting ability in the country's wealthiest province. The vehicles are part of the plan to complement the province's 2006-2014 safety strategy launched in September 2006.

Another strategy to fight crime is to keep youth off the street. Young people between the ages of 14 and 35 make up close to 40 percent of South Africa's population, according to the Department of Labour.

"In South Africa, we have young people being the most affected by problems of underdevelopment, with young people constituting an estimated 70 percent of our unemployed population," said the department in a statement this week.

The department is "enlisting (the youth) as volunteers into a diverse range of national service priorities such as the construction of houses and the provision of home-based care giving (for people living with HIV/AIDS). All the projects are crafted in a manner that ensures that upon completion, the young volunteers gain certification that is recognised under our National Qualifications Framework".

Tourism officials also fear that the publicity around Rattray's death could affect tourism. More than 4.6 million visitors arrived in South Africa between January and July 2006, a 15 percent increase over the same period in 2005. Statistics South Africa, a think-tank, said 20.3 percent of the visitors came from Africa and the Middle East, 11 percent from the Americas, eight percent from Asia and Australia and 3.1 percent from Europe.

The smuggler’s den

2007-01-31T10:48:00.000-08:00

29 Jan 2007
Southern Africa’s illicit-drugs trade is thriving and growing at a tremendous rate, providing lots of jobs, and pushing the subcontinent rapidly into the category of a narco-economy, led by South Africa. Fair enough, decent people do not speak about illicit drugs, just as decent people do not discuss what other people do behind closed bedroom doors. This is going to be a rude article.

It is rude to speak about illicit drugs. In his recent statement on tackling exploding crime in South Africa, safety and security minister Charles Nqakula only mentioned drugs in passing. He is a decent enough fellow, all right. The simplest of facts, rude as it may be, is that South Africa ranks as a world leader in the production and export of the most widely trafficked drug in the world, cannabis herb (also known as marijuana, boom, dagga, weed, grass, dope, and so on). What’s more is that global consumption of this low-tech drug is booming, all over again.

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), cannabis herb seizures in 2004 surpassed 6000 metric tons for the first time. Most such seizures were reported from Mexico, followed by the US, South Africa, Nigeria and Morocco. The world’s biggest growers rank as Paraguay, the US, Morocco (3700 tons), South Africa (2200 tons), Colombia (2000 tons) and Nigeria (2000 tons).

An estimated 162m people across the world used cannabis herb in 2004, says the UNODC, more than 10% higher than in the late 1990s. For South African exporters, the profits can be astounding. A kilogram of cannabis herb can be bought on the streets here for about $20; in the US, the same kilogram is worth about $2300, and in the UK, $3400. Who needs to work, when this stuff grows like a weed?

It’s been estimated that up to 70% of cannabis herb entering South Africa is grown in Lesotho; the drug, in turn, is estimated to be Lesotho’s third largest source of income.

Fields are smallish and the plant is grown alongside corn. Swaziland is known world wide for producing high-quality cannabis, and the country’s seed stock has been marketed internationally. In recent years, Swazi police have noted cannabis trafficking to the UK, the US, the Netherlands and Japan. Malawi is also world renowned for the quality of its cannabis; seizures in the country suggest a substantial export market.

Southern Africa is not only an increasingly important narco-grower and exporter, it is becoming increasingly important as a hub for transshipment of illicit drugs. In an occasional paper for the Institute of Security Studies earlier this year, Jonny Steinberg describes how South Africa has been an established transshipment zone for cocaine en route to Europe from South America, and for heroin en route to Europe from central Asia, since the early 1980s at the very latest, in the hands mainly of Lebanese, Greek and Israeli syndicates. In the mid-1990s, Nigerian organised crime started to dominate the domestic transshipment market.

The UNODC notes that cocaine seizures in Africa over the 2000-2004 period were led in terms of weight by Cape Verde, followed by South Africa, Kenya, Ghana and Nigeria. There is no production of cocaine, as such, in Africa. Cocaine, one of the four main branches of drugs, is produced from coca leaf grown in only three countries, Bolivia, Colombia and Peru.

Opium and its derivatives, such as morphine and heroin, are produced from poppy seeds, with Afghanistan rating as by far the most important grower. After cannabis, cocaine and the opiates, synthetics occupy the fourth and final main category of illicit drugs. Here, South Africa once again weighs in with some world championship figures.

The country is rated as No 1 abuser of methaqualone (better known as “mandrax”), first introduced as a non-addictive sleeping pill in 1965 under the brand name “Quaalude.” Methaqualone is the synthetic drug of choice among South African drug users, but is largely restricted in use to the Western Cape. Chinese-sourced methaqualone has made rapid inroads into the South African market and is associated with the illicit trade in abalone, the country’s most heavily trafficked commodity after cannabis.

Among other synthetics are found the ATS (amphetamine-type stimulants) family, with two main subgroups. First, the CNS group, including amphetamine (with street names such as Bennies, Dexies, and Benzedrine), methamphetamine (Ice, Meth, Crystal), and methcathinone (CAT). The main drugs in the hallucinogenic ATS group are known on the streets as Ecstasy, XTC, E, Adam, and so on. In some parts of the world, such as the US, methamphetamine is considered drug public enemy number one. In some other regions, as noted by the UNODC, notably Europe, synthetic psychoactive substances have lost some of their earlier appeal and been replaced by cocaine.

Amid this sea of drugs, in 1999 the South African government launched a “National Drug Master Plan”, focusing on control of illicit drugs. This plan has fallen horribly and tragically apart. In a recent reply to a parliamentary question it was disclosed that out of the twenty-two Narcotic Drug Units at South Africa’s ports of entry, fourteen have vacancies in key positions and ten do not have group managers to organize the office.

Some of South Africa’s operating narcotics agents are very good at their jobs; some are very good indeed, and some, such as those who operate at Johannesburg International Airport, could probably be counted among the best in the world. But seen overall and from a distance, South Africa’s “National Drug Master Plan” has become its own worst enemy. Half-baked law enforcement is almost as bad as no enforcement at all. Narcotics work is more dangerous than normal law enforcement work, and demands special and ongoing training. The failures have seen South Africa blossom into an illicit-drugs paradise, the final step before entering the narco-economy phase.

The recent monster drug case that emerged in the Alberton Magistrate's Court, near Johannesburg, provides overweening evidence of just how horrifyingly easy it is to organise and operate massive drug shipments using South Africa as a base. In this instance, some R250m worth of compressed cannabis and hashish (cannabis resin) was seized. Of six alleged syndicate members arrested, three have pleaded guilty, turned State witness, and will spend time behind bars.

The others want to stand trial, but law enforcement agents are quite openly targeting a man known as “The Landlord,” the alleged mastermind of the syndicate. His identity is hardly a secret and he is naturally crying foul, underpinned by an advanced case of amnesia. This syndicate was involved in buying from local growers of cannabis, in Swaziland; in transhipment of hashish, apparently from Iran, and in buying export grade cannabis seeds from a grower in the Free State.

The shipment seized in Alberton was destined to travel to Canada by sea, and then to be transhipped to Amsterdam. The seized shipment was No 5 of five from last year’s (southern hemisphere) growing season. Lots of people have lots to explain about how this syndicate was able to operate so simply and so openly. It is striking, to say the least, that the syndicate members arrested were dug out by the Scorpions, a division of the National Prosecuting Authority, rather than by narcotics agents, as such. The solution to that apparent mystery lies in the immutable links between illicit drugs and all kinds of other criminal activity.

Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of UNODC, recently put it this way: “Each society faces the drug problem it deserves.” One fine day, it will not longer be rude to write and speak the truth about illicit drugs.

We are at war

2007-01-28T11:19:00.000-08:00

28 January 2007
South Africa’s top businessmen have expressed outrage at spiralling crime, saying violent criminals have plunged the country into crisis.

Johann Rupert spoke of South Africans “being at war with ourselves”, and Saki Macozoma decried the country’s descent into “criminality” following the murder on Friday of world-renowned KwaZulu- Natal battlefields historian David Rattray at his home .

The 49-year-old Anglo-Zulu War expert was shot three times in the chest at his home in Fugitive’s Drift, apparently by would-be robbers, and died in front of his wife Nicky.

The historian had influential friends throughout the world, many of whom stayed at his 24-bed Fugitive’ s Drift Lodge and joined his battlefield tours.

Yesterday billionaire businessman and chairman of Swiss luxury goods group Richemont, Johann Rupert, who met Rattray a few years ago, described the murder as “senseless”.

“Is this the society that thousands of people fought and sacrificed their lives for? People who do not believe that our country is in crisis with violent crime must be in denial,” said Rupert.

“This is not the type of country I’d hoped my children would live in ... we must now realise that in this country we’re at war with ourselves.

“South Africa has definitely lost one of its great sons ... he gave his life to promoting Zulu culture,” he said .

Businessman, former activist and ANC National Executive Committee member Saki Macozoma, who said he knew Rattray well, described his death as “an example of the criminality that pervades our society”.

“Those who know his killers and are keeping quiet should know deep down in their hearts that they are party to the killing of innocent lives in South Africa.”

He said Rattray had been an ambassador for South African culture and tourism, here and abroad.

Macozoma met Rattray in early 2000 when he, Macozoma, was chairman of the board of Satour and managing director of Transnet .

“It’s a great loss. He restored the dignity of the Zulu people and their history, and had people spellbound with his intimate knowledge of the Anglo-Zulu War.”

KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sibusiso Ndebele expressed outrage at the killing, saying “crimes like these eat away at the moral fibre of our society ... His senseless and callous murder will fill all peace-loving South Africans with disgust.”

The anti-crime outcry comes at a time when President Thabo Mbeki, National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi and his deputy, Commissioner Andre Pruis, have all downplayed the country’s crime rate.

Asked to comment on the killing, Pruis said: “I have just arrived from London, but all I can say is that murder figures in South Africa are constantly decreasing and coming down remarkably.

“In 1994 we had more than 26000 murders, but now the figures have decreased to 18000.”

Rattray family friend Mark Read said yesterday that the killing did not appear to be a random burglary, and may have been an “arbitrary or extraordinary grudge”.

“It seems like it was a grudge thing. People with David’s kind of passion, courage and accomplishments have enemies,” he said

“There is anger and jealousy and you can’t escape that. His death was an untimely and tragic event.”

Read, who drove from Johannesburg to the Rattray home on Friday night, dismissed a two-year-old land claim as a motive, saying Rattray had not been concerned about it.

A high-level police task team has been established to probe the killing.

Rattray was killed on the eve of publishing his first major book, the glowing foreword to which was penned by his close friend, Britain’s Prince Charles.

The royal, with whom the Rattrays holidayed in Scotland every year, first visited Fugitive’s Drift Lodge with his son, Prince Harry, soon after Princess Diana’s death.

A Clarence House spokesman said the prince, who was informed of the killing on Friday night while in the US, was “shocked and deeply saddened by the news”.

Rattray’s killer was one of six young men who first demanded money at the lodge’s reception before entering the family house behind the lodge building and confronting the couple.

The men fled the scene, taking nothing.

Read said family friend Cyril Ramaphosa, who once booked out the entire lodge, had described the death as “very depressing”.

Read, chairman of the Worldwide Fund for Nature in South Africa and owner of the Everard Read Gallery in Johannesburg, said the implications of Rattray’s death were “devastating for the area and the nation”.

“David had the ear of some of the most powerful people in the world, who loved this country, and he had the unique ability to sell South Africa,” he said.

Read said the more than 60 lodge staff had tears running down their cheeks and were “shell-shocked”.

The first copies of Rattray’s book, A Soldier-Artist in Zululand, will be delivered to the lodge on Tuesday for sale there.

The book followed Rattray’s discovery of a large set of unique watercolour paintings by a soldier who had served in the Anglo-Zulu War.

Local resident Mthembeni Zulu said his daughter Carol had witnessed the incident and had called him to ask that he send for an ambulance.

“She was very brave. The men pointed a gun at her and told her to cut the telephone line, but she refused,” said Zulu.

He described Rattray as a “famous man” who had no enemies.

“He had encouraged young people in the area to learn about their own history. I was often surprised at how much he knew,” said Zulu.

Arthur Konigkramer, chairman of Amafa, KwaZulu-Natal’s heritage body, which manages the province’s historic battlefields, said this was an “unspeakable crime”.

“This will do this country huge harm. It will have serious repercussions for the tourism industry,” he said.

Rattray’s childhood friend David Charles, the editor of a local magazine, said of him: “He loved people, he raged against the injustice and intolerance of petty officials that stood in the way of progress. He believed he could make this country better.”

Local resident Harriet Mkhize, 72, said the community was devastated.

“He was everything to us. If you had a problem you would go to him and he would sort it out.”

She said Rattray had helped the community with its garden project.

“He’s the one who would help us with water.

“He even helped our kids with employment at his lodge. The community has lost a hero,” Mkhize said.

Surrendered guns used by criminals

2007-01-28T11:09:00.000-08:00

January 27 2007
A "sizable number" of guns surrendered to the police for destruction have mysteriously found their way to criminal syndicates and warring taxi groups, according to gun lobby groups and the Democratic Alliance.

It is alleged that crooked police working at firearm centres at several police stations countrywide have been selling guns to criminal syndicates. The guns were meant to be kept in safes pending their destruction.

DA spokesperson on safety and security Dianne Kohler-Barnard said she was collecting affidavits in which people alleged that guns that they had handed over to the police had been used in armed robberies.

Kohler-Barnard said in some instances police went to the homes of some of these people believing they were implicated in robberies - but they had handed over their firearms up to two years earlier for destruction.

She said she had already submitted questions to Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula and was awaiting his response.

"There is an absolute trend where surrendered firearms have been used in armed robberies and it is far more widespread than I thought," she said.

SA Gunowners Association spokesperson Martin Hood spoke of four incidents where surrendered guns have afterwards been used to commit crimes.

"We have raised this matter with the relevant authorities and it seems nothing is being done," said Hood.

He said a firearm that was surrendered at Tugela Ferry in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands early last year was used in an armed robbery at a Spar Supermarket in Broadacres, north of Johannesburg, last November.

He said he had been told one officer dealing with surrendered guns had been selling them to taxi drivers.

Readers point their finger at Charles Nqakula

2007-01-26T23:29:00.001-08:00

January 25 2007
South Africans see, read and hear depressing news on a daily basis.

We live in a society where no one has the luxury of feeling safe. Children are exposed to drugs and crime at school, grandmothers are raped, pregnant moms are shot, tourists are mugged and even the police themselves are victims of crime.

There is no discrimination when it comes to who is targeted.

Schools are vandalised, hospitals have their copper wire stolen, ATMs are blown up and cars are hijacked. South Africans are fed-up with the high levels of crime they encounter on a daily basis and they want answers.

When you are not safe in your home, at your school, on the train or in your car then you begin to ask who is to blame. We asked our readers who was responsible for the horrific crime situation in South Africa, and if that blame should rest at the feet of Charles Nqakula.

We want to know: Should the minister of safety and security be held responsible for crime?

On the IOL poll 758 (88%) people voted YES, while 107 (12%) people said NO.

9 600 farm attacks since 1991

2007-01-26T23:04:00.000-08:00

22/01/2007
AgriSA says 9 600 farm attacks have been committed since 1991, making President Thabo Mbeki’s comment that crime was under control “regrettable”.

The organisation’s Kiewiet Ferreira said on Friday that at least three farmers had been murdered in recent weeks and there had been a steady increase in farm attacks in the past few months.

On Friday, Groblersdal farmer John Prins was shot in the back of the head and killed.

This was shortly after the murders of Sarel Breedt of Roossenekal and Ken Eva in Kwazulu/Natal.
Also on Friday morning, Piet Barnard Venter, 68, was found murdered on his farm, Somerplaas in Buffelshoek, North West.

Superintendent Louis Jacobs of the Mooi River area police said he was found at the gate of his farm with a rope around his neck shortly after his Toyota bakkie was discovered abandoned about 4km away.

“There is serious concern and dissatisfaction among farmers over the perception at the highest level of government that crime is under control,” AgriSA said.

ANC demands tougher approach to crime

2007-01-26T22:34:00.000-08:00

January 23 2007
The African National Congress wants the government to change gear in handling crime, calling for a more "vigorous" and "comprehensive" response to the problem.

This follows the party's three-day lekgotla in Johannesburg.

The position is in stark contrast to President Thabo Mbeki's assertion in a television interview last week that it was only a perception that crime was spiralling out of control.

The lekgotla instead reiterated the position outlined in the party's January 8 statement that it was "critically important, in the interest of safety and security... that both the ANC and the government" should have a practical and specific response to crime.

Party spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama said on Monday that, based on a concrete understanding of the reality of crime, the ruling party agreed that the government's response should also be "based on a clear understanding of the causes of crime and the various forms it takes across society".

"The response needs to be well considered, effectively co-ordinated and comprehensive," Ngonyama said.

He said the party also intended to get its lower structures across the country to engage communities to support the police and work with law enforcement agencies against criminals.

He downplayed suggestions, however, that the lekgotla's diagnosis of the crime problem was different from that of the president, saying this was the unnecessary "politicking about the issue of crime which consequently shifted attention from the criminals".

But this indicates that crime, along with other pertinent issues such as the eradication of poverty, is set to remain on top of the government's agenda this year.

Most issues that form part of the key resolutions of the ANC lekgotla also form the basis of a similar gathering of the cabinet that will map out the government's programme for the year.

The cabinet lekgotla, which was due to begin in Pretoria today, also forms the basis for Mbeki's state-of-the-nation address next month.

Poverty is also expected to feature as a key element of the cabinet lekgotla and Mbeki's speech.

According to Ngonyama, the ANC lekgotla at the weekend highlighted a number of areas, such as social security, housing and health, as well as the provision of basic services, that needed urgent attention at today's cabinet gathering.

Without giving much detail, Ngonyama said the ANC lekgotla "focused on some of the steps needed to improve the quality of service provision in all areas and significantly improve the ability of (people) to access such services".

As part of its primary tasks for the year, the ANC also wants to establish what it calls a "broad front for development", bringing various organisations and sectors together in the bid to fight poverty and promote social development.

Ngonyama downplayed questions on how such a front, styled on the Mass Democratic Movement of the 1980s, would hold together, given the political differences between the ANC and its alliance partners, the South African Communist Party and Cosatu.

He said the three alliance partners could "rise above the current differences and challenges" they faced.

Ngonyama added that the provision of a basic income grant to help the unemployed was discussed at the ANC lekgotla, but did not form part of the final decisions to be forwarded for further discussion by the government.

Cloud hangs over McBride as pressure mounts

2007-01-20T08:05:00.000-08:00

January 15 2007
Pressure is mounting for Ekurhuleni executive mayor Duma Nkosi to take action against his chief of police, Robert McBride, over an alleged drunk-driving accident three weeks ago.

In the latest salvo, Democratic Alliance spokesperson on safety and security Dianne Kohler-Barnard said on Sunday: "McBride should under no circumstances be allowed to return to work until the investigation into his alleged drunken-driving accident last month has been completed."

McBride was due back at work on Monday, but the DA believed he should rather take leave of absence.

"There are still several unanswered questions surrounding the accident in December where, reportedly, McBride was driving under the influence of alcohol when he rolled his official vehicle," Kohler-Barnard said.

"Witnesses at the scene were reportedly threatened and intimidated by metro police officials who came to McBride's rescue," she pointed out.

"The police chief's blood alcohol levels were reportedly also not tested and we have submitted parliamentary questions surrounding this incident to Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula."

Nkosi said his mayoral committee would be meeting on Thursday to discuss the McBride issue in detail and that the council would be briefed at the end of the month.

McBride has been unavailable for comment since going on sick leave.

Row over missing money

2007-01-12T12:06:00.000-08:00

A legal battle is brewing between Fidelity Guards and Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula.

At issue is R103 000 seized from suspects in a cash-in-transit robbery in 1997, which allegedly “disappeared” from police custody.

A civil claim, in which Fidelity Guards is claiming the amount, plus interest, from Nqakula has been set down for hearing in the Pretoria High Court next month.

The company – which had an agreement to transport cash for Shoprite in Umtata in the Eastern Cape, using JP Security – claimed in court papers more than R488 000 from Shoprite was stolen outside the premises of First National Bank in Umtata in April 1997.

The matter was reported to police, and police members soon afterwards arrested six suspects and seized just over R103 000 in cash.

Fidelity Guards claimed the money, supposed to have been marked and kept under lock and key, was in February 2003 “lost or stolen” while held by the Serious and Violent Crime Unit in Umtata.

They claimed the money was either stolen by police or lost as a direct result of police members who did not give the money a distinctive identity mark or keep it in custody, and let unauthorised persons have access to the money.

Fidelity Guards argued no criminal proceedings were instituted over the sum seized, or such proceedings were not begun in a reasonable time, causing JP Security and Shoprite to suffer damages.

The police said in court papers they had no knowledge of the money seized being stolen or lost and said it was in fact still legally in possession of the Umtata police station, where it was needed as exhibits for purposes of evidence in the still-pending criminal trial.

They said as far as they were aware, R51 500 of the money seized had already been paid to Fidelity’s representative, and Fidelity had in any event not given timeous notice of its intention to sue a state organ.

Ministers to Keep Jobs Even If Crime Does Not Drop

2007-01-12T12:04:00.000-08:00

President Thabo Mbeki will not dismiss Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula or Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla if they fail to achieve government's target of a 7%-10% reduction in violent crime each year.

Although Parliament was not in session yesterday, Mbeki had replied to a written question from Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon following the president's New Year message in which he urged all South Africans to join the fight against crime.

"We must continue to confront the problem of high levels of crime, including violent crimes committed against the most vulnerable in our society, such as women, children and the elderly," he said.

Leon had asked the president "whether he has taken, or intends taking, any steps to ensure that the minister of safety and security and the minister for justice and constitutional development will forfeit their offices if the government does not achieve a 7%-10% reduction in the number of contact crimes within the next six months".

For two years government has committed itself to these reduction targets in violent crimes, but has not achieved them. Mbeki said: "We do not approach successes and short-comings from the point of view of the politics of grandstanding but seriously and collectively, as cabinet, we seek to identify strategic and operational steps that need to be taken to improve our work."

He said the cabinet's assessment of recent trends "is that indeed some progress has been made to reduce incidence of contact crime; but there are challenges that need to be addressed".

"As government we are committed to working with all South Africans to ensure that we achieve our objectives. We would like to encourage all ministers to continue with their good work, and pledge our full support for their efforts to meet government's objectives," the president said.

In reply to another question from Leon, Mbeki took refuge behind the constitution for not releasing the report of the Khampepe commission into who should hold the political authority over the Scorpions.

Government accepted the recommendations that the Scorpions should fall under the safety and security minister but not be merged with the police.

The unit would remain part of the justice department.

Mbeki said that in appointing the commission of inquiry, he had acted under the powers vested in him in terms of section 84(2) of the constitution, which does not require the report to be released to anyone other than the president.

Crime diminishing Mbeki's popularity

2006-12-29T05:47:00.000-08:00

Rampant crime has been a contributor to a decline in President Thabo Mbeki's popularity.

That's according to two research surveys released on Friday, which showed a marked decline in his popularity standings since the local government elections earlier this year.

The poll, by the Johannesburg-based Research Surveys institute, showed that Mbeki had a 53 percent approval rating, 8 percent down on the figure recorded six months ago.

Another public opinion survey released by Markinor showed Mbeki's popularity dropped from the 7.4 percent he had in May this year to just 6.9 percent last month.

Research Surveys director Neil Higgs said Mbeki's support had also tailed off as a result of the government's failure to fight the rampant crime rate. A temporary boost to his rating, which followed his decision to sack deputy president Jacob Zuma last year, had since faded, with Zuma's supporters constantly sniping at the president.

The Markinor survey also paints a gloomy picture about the popularity of the Inkatha Freedom Party, Democratic Alliance and African National Congress.

It states that the support for the ANC and IFP fell back to the same levels as at the end of 2005, while the popularity of the DA is on a downward trend.

The IFP's drop from 3.9 percent to 3 percent is bad news for the party as it had prospects of regaining KwaZulu-Natal, which it lost to the ANC in 2004.

The news is also badly timed for the party as it has just announced its plans of becoming a strong opposition party in the province.

While support for the party dropped, the rating for IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi remained at about the same level in the past two years.

ACDP's Kenneth Meshoe also maintained the same level while Patricia de Lille and Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka gained points.

Mbeki's first three years in office from 2000 saw him struggle with approval ratings that hovered around the 30% mark as he tried to shake off the shadow of his popular predecessor, Nelson Mandela.

However, his popularity shot up when South Africa won the right to stage the 2010 World Cup.

A total of 2 000 people were questioned for the survey, which has a 2.5 percent margin of error.

Markinor does bi-annual measurement of the political mood in the country by interviewing 3 500 South Africans

The time for excuses is over

2006-12-29T05:45:00.000-08:00

Crime is fast destroying the great SA dream and it need not be so, writes Max du Preez

How can it be an act of patriotism to pretend that crime, and specifically violent crime, isn't a major threat to South Africa's social cohesion and stability?

That is as bizarre a notion as I've ever heard. Yet that's what the deputy president of the ruling party, Jacob Zuma, seems to be saying. The media are making crime look worse by over-reporting it, he told a German magazine last week. It is tantamount to disloyalty to the country - the media in other countries are far more responsible when they reflect criminality in their societies, he says.

Deny it and it will go away, appears to be Zuma's approach. For once the Minister of Safety and Security, Charles Nqakula, must be in agreement with his party's deputy leader. If we ignore it, the raped and the violated will feel better. If you really love South Africa and our democracy, you will pretend that we live in a gentle, peaceful paradise.

There's a subtle subtext to this approach: it is mostly selfish, fatcat whites who are unhappy with black majority rule who complain about crime. What utter nonsense. White protestations may indeed be the most audible, but only because of their still privileged status in society and their bigger access to the media compared to the large numbers of ordinary working class and unemployed black people.

The stark reality is that poor black people are more affected by crime and criminal violence than the middle classes who can afford security guards, barbed wire fences, high walls and electronic security systems. How can we pretend to be a normal society if more is spent on private security than on the national police service?

I have long been reluctant to comment on the all-consuming crime wave. I have told myself that an increase in criminality was probably inevitable after our swift and fundamental change from a white-dominated police state to an open democracy. I considered that poverty and the persistent vast chasm between the haves and the have-nots must be contributing; that our violent history and culture of glorifying violence in the decades before 1994 must at least be partly to blame. But the time for looking for excuses is over. While we should always ponder the roots of our society's criminal tendencies, we should all really now be honest and say: whatever the causes, crime is the biggest threat to South African society. It is in many ways a bigger and more immediate threat than poverty, HIV and Aids, malaria, road deaths, racism and illiteracy.

Crime is ripping our social fabric to threads, preventing us from focussing on other problems.

Here's a riddle: why do most South Africans feel that criminality is on the increase, but the responsible minister quotes statistics indicating that it is on the decline? I have no way of telling whether the minister and the SAPS are "cooking the books" to make it look more rosy. If they're not doing that, then the only explanation must be that we have reached a threshold of tolerance and even when there is a stabilisation or decline, we are so sick and tired of it that we don't feel it.

I'm irritated by those who write newspaper editorials or letters to newspapers warning that we need to bring crime under control if we want to be successful in our hosting of the Soccer World Cup in 2010. The World Cup is just one event. Crime is threatening our own people's very future.

I'm far more concerned about how the all-pervasive criminality will shape the kind of life we and our children will be leading in the next decades. I have no explanation why President Thabo Mbeki and his cabinet colleagues cannot see how serious the crisis is. Perhaps it is as simple as that they live their lives away from ordinary people and behind lines of bodyguards and security walls. Perhaps they are paralysed by the enormity of the problem.

I'm no criminologist. But I have a very clear understanding that we would only be discouraging citizens from taking up crime as a way of life when we make sure they know that crime doesn't pay: that they will definitely end up in jail if they do crime.

That must mean a major shake-up in the SAPS, starting with the national commissioner and some of his regional commissioners. Too many of our policemen have become part of the problem rather than the solution.

But we need more than a change of attitude, we need a new, effective management of the police that would ensure the men and women would be properly trained, deployed and managed.

We need the right balance of bobbies on the beat, patrol cars, crime intelligence, detective work and forensics. This shake-up should be accompanied by an urgent and complete overhaul of our judicial system to make sure the guilty get sent to jail.

Crime is fast destroying the great South African dream. It need not be so.

Charges laid against police in McBride accident

2006-12-27T11:41:00.000-08:00

Charges of crimen injuria and assault have been laid against metro police officers who arrived at the accident scene of Robert McBride, the Ekurhuleni metro police chief. McBride crashed after he lost control of his car in Centurion last Thurday.

The couple who arrived at the scene first alleges they were roughed up by the police. Charges were laid at the Randburg police station.

"The charges will be transferred to Erasmia police station. At this stage a case has been opened but there is no indication as to who the police officers involved are," said Govindsammy Mariemuthoo, a director at the SA Police Service.

Meanwhile, McBride is recovering at home with head and back injuries. Claims that he was drunk at the time of the accident sparked an outcry. Police are investigating charges of negligence and reckless driving against McBride.

"The docket will be placed before the public prosecutor for a decision on whether to prosecute or not," said Mariemuthoo.

The Democratic Alliance plans to raise the matter in Parliament. It wants answers from Charles Nqakula, the safety and security minister.

It is alleged that McBride received special treatment by metro police officers at the scene of the accident, and questions are being asked as to whether his blood alcohol level was tested.

Some trade secrets

2006-12-23T13:26:00.000-08:00

The challenge of reporting on Brett Kebble’s murder demands a potent mixture of art and science.

So now the “truth” is out, in a document unofficially called The World According to Glenn Agliotti. This was unveiled in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s court this week in the form of an affidavit. Brett Kebble, who was slain on the night of September 27 2005, “assisted and played a material role in the planning of his death”, states Agliotti. It was, Agliotti insists, “in fact an assisted suicide”.

Agliotti states: “After I had become involved, it was decided to rather make his death look like a carjacking. After numerous dry runs and plans, he was killed in this manner by persons who have been identified by the State and apparently granted Section 204 indemnity for the roles that they played”. Agliotti provided zero proof that the murder was an “assisted suicide”, and failed to come clean by naming the triggermen.

When the time and the place is just right, Agliotti’s claims will be shown up for what they really are. In the meantime, given that Agliotti has conceded participation in the conspiracy (but hardly pleaded anything like guilt), his claims will have to be taken from whence they come.

Within a week or two of Kebble’s murder, any investigative journalist worth his or her salt would have known the structure of the conspiracy leading to the murder, and the identities of those involved. The real issue has been the question of how to report these facts, and when. The saga has created massive competition in the media, and also confirmed that the media remains heavily populated by various species of scavenger and vermin.

One newspaper, which has even started publishing articles on how it has always been ahead of the pack, serves as a prize example. Last week the newspaper, which has four journalists working on the Kebble saga, stated that “the arrest of Agliotti appears to have been based on the evidence of accomplice witnesses, named in the media as security company boss Clinton Nassif and prominent Johannesburg gangland figures Michael “Mikey” Schultz, Nigel McGurk and Faizel Smith”. This is a load of bollocks.

Besides, there is nothing so convenient and cowardly as citing “media” as the source for naming alleged accomplice triggermen Schultz, McGurk and Smith. Where’s the damn proof? (By the way, anybody who really knows the story has hardly heard of Faizel Smith; his name is “Kappie”, finished and klaar.) But it gets worse. The same newspaper goes on to state that: “Schultz, a former Hell’s Angel, is notorious in bouncer circles around Johannesburg”.

This shows up the four journalists for what they really are. Schultz was never a Hell’s Angel. Anyone who knows the story will tell you that. If you want to get the facts straight in and around a murder, small details like this are crucial; an error of the nature exposed here raises questions over every other “fact” gleefully strung together by the hacks in question.

If journalists want to take the potentially dangerous step of reporting on a deadly murder, they must get into the story, and not pretend to get into the story by relying on half-baked information and putrefying allegations. If you want to be a matador, you must live your life straight up and straight down.

As a side-note, it is instructive that when American journalist and author Hunter S Thompson was gathering material for his book Hell's Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga, he spent a year literally living with the Hell’s Angels. As one reviewer put it, Thompson did his best to expose the New York Times, Time Magazine and others for “their target-picking, fear-baiting, if-we-printed-it-it-must-be-real style of reporting”. One can only weep that the lessons appear to have died over time.

Thompson quit collecting material for the book when a bunch of Hell’s Angels beat him into a pulp. He recovered, and went ahead and wrote the book, publishing it in 1967. He continued to refuse to give the boys in black leather a cent of his royalties, the cause of the beating he had received.

Back in South Africa, it was correct, and remains correct, to say that Schultz was a prospect Hell’s Angel – but that’s totally different to being one. It may be premature to disclose the reasons, so let’s leave it at that for the meantime. It would have been correct to state that McGurk (rather than Schultz) was a Hell’s Angel, but that, ironically, has not been done.

An investigative journalist is blessed by a wealth of raw material. When the choices are made about what to publish and what to leave out, the latter inevitably proves the most troublesome. Even if it means sacrificing a “scoop”, the choice should be totally dictated by a deep sensitivity for the safety of individuals still alive. Sometimes it is just too damn dangerous to let something go; it has to remain secret until the time and the place is just right.

There is, of course, a lunatic fringe school of thought demanding that whatever is in the public interest should be published as soon as possible. That lunatic fringe can take their school of thought and stick it where it fits best, until they prove their investigative skills by putting their necks on the line and, more important, getting results. Investigative work is not only about timing, and about what to leave out, it is, as mentioned, also about absolute accuracy. If something is known to be absolutely true, and the time and the place is right, then publish it.

It is correct to state that Nassif was Kebble’s security boss, and also security boss at Kebble’s key public company, JCI, at the time when Kebble was murdered. Agliotti was appointed a “consultant” to JCI in March 2003. It is correct to say that Nassif was recently arrested on fraud charges unrelated to Kebble’s murder, and that Agliotti was arrested on charges of murdering Kebble, and of conspiracy to murder Kebble.

Both Nassif and Agliotti “reported” to John Stratton, a wily British-born Australian who joined the JCI board of directors in 1998. For those who know the story, it should have come as no surprise to find Stratton appearing in Agliotti’s affidavit. Once again, take it from whence it comes, but in the world according to Agliotti, “I have been advised that the State intends to add another suspect, Mr John Stratton, who is currently residing in Australia”. It would have been more accurate if Agliotti had stated that Stratton is residing in Perth, and residing under pressure.

Stratton, known to some as “Bangles” Down Under, and to some in South Africa as “Turtle”, enjoys great notoriety in Perth, where he lives. He is an absolutely ruthless businessman who has left a string of broken financial hearts behind him. It is no secret that South African law enforcement agents were out in Perth a few weeks back, and it wasn’t for fun.

As for extraditing individuals from Australia, the case of Ed Dutton casts a horrible pall over the odds that Stratton will ever again be seen in this country again. Besides the jurisdictional complications, Stratton is no spring chicken and would be vulnerable to the heavy stresses he may face in South Africa. If Stratton ever had a real friend, his name was Brett Kebble.

On the subject of friends, it was Agliotti who notoriously used his cellphone to call Jackie Selebi, the national police commissioner, from close to Kebble’s murder scene. Agliotti had used the same instrument to call Kebble when he guided him to the scene of the murder. These are unhappy and hair-raising facts that point to the possibility that the final outcome to the murder case is going to be unsatisfactory.

There are countless facts that may one day be placed in the public domain. In the meantime, rest assured that there are some dangerous people out there. There always are. As Thompson wrote in 1965 on the subject of motorcycle gangs, “a few belong to what the others call ‘outlaw clubs,’ and these are the ones who - especially on weekends and holidays - are likely to turn up almost anywhere in the state, looking for action. Despite everything the psychiatrists and Freudian casuists have to say about them, they are tough, mean and potentially as dangerous as a pack of wild boar”.

Long-time Hell’s Angels president Sonny Barger was out in South Africa at a particular time in the 1990s. One day, it will be the time and the place to tell the story of why the Hell’s Angels link is going to stick to Agliotti.

Missing dockets are not a problem

2006-12-23T13:19:00.000-08:00

Being raped by her neighbour was a horrific ordeal for Angie*, a young woman who lives on the East Rand. But traumatised as she was, she was determined to make the perpetrator pay.

She gritted her teeth, went through all the medical examinations and told the tale of how a seemingly friendly encounter turned into a violent fight and sexual assault.

“The police were sympathetic. They even spoke to me in my own language,” she says.

But then, a week before the court date, the police called her again.

“They told me they would have to take my statement again and that of my friend who lived nearby,” she said. “It had been difficult to get my friend to say anything, because people don’t like to talk about these things.”

The docket had been lost. “They said they could not find it and that these things happen sometimes. They would simply just take my statement again.

“I don’t know what happened to the medical evidence they took. I just decided at that moment that I had had enough.”

She dropped the charges to avoid more trauma.

The South African Police Service insists missing dockets are not that big a problem. Said Ronnie Naidoo, national police spokesperson: “The South African Police Service generates a very large volume of case dockets. In comparison to the very small numbers that do go missing for various reasons, the police do not consider the problem to have reached alarming proportions.”

Most dockets were lost at court or because of theft. Naidoo said official statistics on missing dockets “are not readily available”, saying that it would take a special project to generate them, which the SAPS would rather spend on service delivery.

The most up-to-date statistics date back to a 2004/05 government report — 373 dockets went missing in that period alone.

According to Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula, more than half of these dockets (209) were lost at police stations and 135 at courts, while 29 were stolen.

Yet community police forum members at the problematic Booysens police station told the Mail & Guardian that 80% of dockets at the police station went missing. The police station refused to comment.

And three years ago Greater Nelspruit Rape Intervention Project (Grip) claimed that 135 rape dockets went missing in their area alone. Mpumalanga’s police commissioner, Eric Nkabinde, admitted at the time that an unusually high number of dockets had gone missing, especially at KaNyamazane police station.

Since then, 32 detectives have been deployed to Ka-Nyamazane to tackle the problem. But Nkabinde admitted: “We’ve inherited a monster police station at KaNyamazane.”

Three years later, Grip’s Barbara Kenyon said the problem remained, despite slight improvement. Grip member Nokuthula Makhubela told the M&G that, through their intervention, they had managed to reduce the missing rape dockets in their operating area to one this year.

“What we do is to immediately copy a rape docket. When it goes missing, we can simply replace it again with our own,” she said. “This seems to have solved the problem.”

The police station’s commander, Superintendent Micka Tlou, denied that the station was the problem. The real issue was the labyrinthine regional and district court system.

“Sometimes people are quick to say that a docket is missing when it has gone through the referral process,” he stated. He said that, to prevent dockets from going missing, they always had duplicates on hand.

The docket of another rape victim, Boyiswe*, went missing several times in Tembisa before rape support group One in Nine intervened.

With outside help, she finally got her day in court this month.

In some cases, dockets appear to have become a commodity traded to supplement meagre incomes. Last year, National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi acknowledged that corruption is sometimes to blame for the disappearance of dockets in criminal court cases. He told Parliament’s standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) that officials might be offered up to R25 000 to “lose” incriminating documents.

Jacob*, a constable stationed in Johannesburg, told the M&G that a hijacking syndicate had offered him R1 000 for the dockets of one of their members. “Policemen do not get paid a lot,” he said. “So, if you are offered an extra income, you might consider it.”

With an embarrassed laugh, the constable denied agreeing to the deal. “Just R1 000 to throw away your career?” he said, but then grinned: “Maybe if he had offered more …”

The National Prosecuting Authority admitted that missing or incomplete dockets were a major frustration. Spokesperson Lucinda Moonieya said dockets with missing documents had to be handed back to the investigating officer.

“The prosecutor will write specific instructions for the investigating officer to investigate further. This is done in the investigation diary, which forms part of the police docket,” she said.

Moonieya added that the investigating officer and the unit commander had to take the responsibility for incomplete or missing dockets in police hands.

“The unit commander is supposed to check the dockets before they can be forwarded to court,” she said.

Johan Burger, of the Institute of Security Studies, agreed that the station commander ultimately had to take responsibility for bad dockets.

“There need to be checks and balances; in other words, command and control,” he said.

Gangs Force Johannesburg Citizens Behind Barbed Wire (Update2)

2006-12-23T13:18:00.000-08:00

A security guard meets Lawrence Rae and his fiancée, Nola Malan, at the gate of their home in a Johannesburg suburb whenever they return home from a night out, part of a service for which he pays about 400 rand ($56) a month.

``The cost is small compared to getting raped or losing your life,'' said Rae, a 39-year-old manager at Dimension Data Holdings Plc in Johannesburg, who was shot at and robbed in his driveway in June. ``We live in fear.''

South Africa's largest city, where crime rates had gradually declined since the end of apartheid in 1994, is grappling with a surge in violence triggered by gangs armed with AK-47s. Armored car heists in Gauteng province, whose main urban center is Johannesburg, rose 72 percent in the 12 months through March, police say. Violent business robberies jumped 48 percent.

Finance Minister Trevor Manuel in October said South Africa would hire an additional 10,000 police before it becomes the first African nation to host the soccer World Cup in 2010. In the year ended March 31, there were 18,545 murders in South Africa, a rate almost eight times that of the U.S.

``Johannesburg can't afford to be known as a metaphor for horror,'' said Nic Borain, a Cape Town-based analyst, whose clients include HSBC Securities. ``The government sees crime as hugely destructive to foreign investment and the national psyche.''

Not Enough

Cowering behind electrified fences, terrified residents of Johannesburg say the government still isn't doing enough.

``The police have lost the war,'' said Richard Tate, chairman of Melville Residents Association, which began patrolling the suburb's streets, lined with purple-blossomed Jacaranda trees, in July after violence and car thefts spiraled.

The situation is a bonanza for security firms.

Johannesburg-based Allied Technologies Ltd. reported that the number of clients at its Netstar unit, which uses helicopters to locate stolen cars with satellite-tracking devices, rose 11 percent to 400,000 in the six months ended Aug. 31. The ADT unit of Bermuda-based Tyco International Inc., which guards Rae's home, has 300,000 South African clients. It declined to say how many customers it's adding.

The surge comes after crime rates in Johannesburg -- which was rocked by the political violence of the 1976 Soweto riots and the 1992 Boipatong massacre -- fell during the previous two years. The number of murders, attempted murders and rapes dropped 20 percent.

Joblessness, AIDS

The government blames the reversal on an increase in organized crime, particularly Nigerian drug dealers and Zimbabwean gangs that target cash-in-transit.

A jobless rate of 26 percent, the highest of 55 countries monitored by Bloomberg, and an AIDS epidemic that has created more than a million orphans, are also driving impoverished young people to crime, said Antoinette Louw, a fellow at the Institute of Security Studies in Pretoria.

``Security forces may be rolled out with military precision in 2010, but the problems that face South Africans won't be tackled,'' Louw said.

Gauteng, with less than a fifth of South Africa's 47.4 million people, accounted for 58 percent of violent house robberies last year. More than half the nation's carjackings and three-quarters of bank robberies took place in Gauteng.

Nadine Gordimer, the 83-year-old winner of the Nobel prize for literature, was assaulted and robbed by three men in her Johannesburg home Oct. 26.

`Under Siege'

Newspapers have criticized the government for not taking crime seriously, after Safety Minister Charles Nqakula in June said those who ``whinge'' about crime should leave.

``Like the proverbial ostrich, they refuse to accept that this country is under siege from criminals,'' the Johannesburg- based Sunday Times, Africa's biggest newspaper, said Oct. 1 in a rare front-page editorial.

Peter Bruce, editor of Business Day, the country's biggest financial daily, wrote Sept. 18: ``The criminals, thugs, savages and murderers roaming our streets think the police and the government are a joke, and they are absolutely right.''

President Thabo Mbeki has started meeting business leaders to discuss ways to tackle crime.

``We cannot be content while our citizens experience violent and brutal attacks,'' he told parliament Nov. 15.

Crime costs the country about $4.7 billion annually, or about $100 a person, in lost merchandise and equipment, along with added security costs, the World Bank said in December 2005.

Gun Battle

``We don't feel safe,'' said Siphiwe Nzimande, chief executive officer of Business Against Crime, a 10-year-old organization funded by more than 100 companies.

In a June gun battle, 24 gangsters executed four policemen after they ran out of bullets in Jeppestown, close to the center of Johannesburg.

Gauteng police arrested 474 people for murder and attempted murder in the two months after launching a crackdown called Operation Iron Fist in July. A further 647 people were arrested for violent robbery and 420 for rape. That hasn't reassured many South Africans.

``Crime is getting worse,'' said David Chigowanyika, 26, a photographer's assistant in Melville, dubbed ``Hellville'' by the Star newspaper. He was beaten by four attackers and robbed of his mobile phone at gunpoint.

10111 staff abuse hotline

2006-12-23T13:17:00.000-08:00

A call to the police's 10111 hotline can make a vital difference in saving a life or defying death, yet call centre staff around the country have been disciplined for abusing these lines.

Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula has revealed that the people who operate these lifelines are often guilty of abusing them and in the past three years close to 400 of them have been disciplined for doing so. One person has been fired and five others have received final written warnings.

In a written reply to questions, Nqakula revealed that most of the abuse occurred in the Western Cape, where 281 people were found guilty of making private calls from these lines. He said several of them had received verbal and written warnings, while 217 had been sent for "correctional counselling".

In the Eastern Cape, the charges were even more serious, with 44 found guilty. Seven of them were found guilty of not registering complaints and received written warnings, while one person received a final warning for leaving a line unattended.

In Limpopo, verbal warnings were given to two people who misused the pin codes of other call centre staff. Nqakula said in KwaZulu-Natal they blocked outgoing lines and issued verbal warnings to 60 people who made private calls from the 10111 lines.

The one person who was dismissed for "unprofessional behaviour" was from Gauteng.

Police opened fire on us without warning

2006-12-23T13:16:00.000-08:00

Two paramedics who responded to a distress call during a fatal domestic argument have accused the police of shooting them without warning - and then trying to cover it up by removing evidence.

Speaking from hospital on Sunday, Elland Mashamaite, 37, and Tshilidzi Nemutandhela, 26, told The Star that they and three colleagues called for police back-up during Friday's incident at a Noordwyk, Midrand, townhouse complex, but ended up getting shot themselves.

However, North Rand police spokesperson Superintendent Eugene Opperman on Sunday dismissed the allegations as rubbish.

"That's nonsense. I don't know what they are talking about. We are busy investigating the matter," was all he would say.

Mashamaite, who was on his last shift on Friday before going on holiday, said the paramedics received a call from a man at about 3.30am to rush to the townhouse complex. He said the man told him he had just shot his wife.

"We arrived at the house before 4am, and while trying to help the woman - who later died - we called the police for back-up because we did not know what the man would do. A few minutes later, the police arrived at the house," he said.

As the police arrived, he said, the man grabbed a gun under a plate on the table and shot himself. Panicking, Mashamaite, Nemutandhela and an armed-response security guard, who was also on the scene, rushed out of the unit.

"Without any warning, the police started shooting at us. We were in full reflective uniform, but they just shot at us," said Mashamaite, who sustained a bullet wound to a thigh.

"While running on the balcony towards the stairs I saw the security guard fall down right in front of me. I moved for about half a metre before I also fell down.

"I saw blood gushing from my right thigh and knew I had been shot as well. Immediately thereafter I saw my colleague (Nemutandhela) go down," he said.

Mashamaite claimed that while three other paramedics were helping the wounded, police were picking up bullet cartridges.

"I could see them picking up the cartridges. I couldn't understand why they did this," he said.

Nemutandhela, with a bullet lodged in his right leg, said: "I thought the police were coming to protect us, only to find that I'm now the victim. They didn't even give us a warning."

Another paramedic who was at the scene, Frans Moshaba, said: "I was attending to the woman who was shot and speaking to her husband, who was behind me, when I suddenly heard a gun go off. I turned and saw the woman's husband fall to the ground and I realised he had shot himself. The others (who didn't know what had happened) fled and a few seconds later I heard gunshots from outside the house."

Moshaba said he hid behind the sofa, and when he eventually ventured outside he saw Mashamaite, Nemutandhela and the security guard on the ground. While he and two other medics, who had escaped injury, attended to their hurt colleagues and the guard, Moshaba said he saw the police picking things up off the ground, but could not be sure what they were.

"I think the police panicked when they heard the first shot go off inside the house and started shooting," he said.

Johannesburg Emergency Services spokesperson Malcolm Midgley confirmed that the paramedics and the guard had been shot, saying: "If the husband shot himself, who else (besides the police) could have fired the shots that wounded the paramedics and the guard?"

He said the matter was now in the hands of the police.

Boyane Tshehla, head of the crime and security programmes at the Institute for Security Studies, said the police's reaction depended on what they were told before arriving at the scene.

"The sensible thing would have been to take into account that there were paramedics at the scene... But the real question is whether the police are trained adequately to deal with matters like these," he said, referring to the recent incident where police shot a North West priest because they thought he was C-Max escapee Annanias Mathe.

Tshehla added that matters like these called into question the appropriateness of Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula's view that police should use maximum force.

Humiliating arrest destroyed my reputation

2006-12-23T12:53:00.000-08:00

The humiliating arrest and accusation that he raped two minors destroyed an independent TV producer's reputation at the SABC.

Not only did the time Themba Ndaba spent in jail for something he did not do harm his image, but it lost him thousands of rands and led to the withdrawal of funding by major sponsors, including Vodacom, for the documentary he was working on.

Ndaba, 32, said this while giving evidence in his Johannesburg High Court lawsuit of R2,5-million against Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula and the police officer who wrongfully arrested him.

On November 4, 2004, Ndaba was arrested at the SABC by two police officers who accused him of having raped and robbed two minors. After his arrest, Ndaba was refused bail and spent three weeks in prison. Charges were withdrawn against him after the police caught the real culprit.

At the time of his arrest, Ndaba had been working on a project called The Miracles On The Storm, a documentary that explored HIV and Aids issues.

In producing the documentary, Ndaba stood to make R270 000, but lost out as a result of the arrest and the withdrawal of funding by the sponsors.

Ndaba said he was producing another documentary called Abomrider, for the SABC.

Of the 2004 documentary The Miracles on the Storm, Motsepe, Vodacom and the health department had confirmed in writing that they would sponsor the project.

"Your arrest and the ordeal impacted on you as a producer?" asked his counsel, advocate Mbhazima Mavodze.

"People at the SABC heard about all this in public. Then I was banned at the SABC for two years," said Ndaba.

Mavodze: "This current project? Where are you producing it?"

Ndaba: "This is my first job since 2004. I am producing it from the SABC because (for two years) I was banned there. The ban was lifted in November when I approached them with the new documentary."

He said that as a result of the impact the arrest had on his family and himself as a father of two, he had nearly gotten divorced. Ndaba added that the police never told him where the offences had taken place.

The hearing continues.

Is 2010 a race issue?

2006-11-27T12:54:00.000-08:00

Is security around the 2010 Soccer World Cup being questioned because South Africa has a majority black government?

Addressing the National Community Police Forum in Midrand yesterday, Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula asked why security concerns were never an issue when it came to international “white” sporting events, such as rugby and cricket, being staged in SA.

Nqakula said: “We don’t want to go back to the conflicts of the past” where black and white were pitted against each other, but asked “Do we want people to say it is because it is not the white man’s sport, but soccer, the black man’s sport?”

Nqakula faced an outcry earlier this year after the police annual crime statistics were released. Some said South Africa was not ready to stage the international showcase for soccer, due to high crime levels.

Yesterday the Minister admitted that levels of violent crime were “unacceptably high”, but pointed out that they had been on the decline since 1995.

At the time the police statistics were released it was suggested Fifa was considering moving the World Cup to Australia.

Regarding such suggestions, Nqakula asked: “Is it because in South Africa the government of the day is a predominantly black one, and in Australia it is a predominantly white government?”

Nqakula joked that “We have lots of psychics” who were “predicting” high crime levels during the 2010 Soccer World Cup. He asked why they could not warn him before a crime took place.

In answer to criticism Nqakula said the restructuring of the police force was intended to allay security fears.

A study done in 2005 at station level into police resources had revealed a serious capacity problem.

“Despite the fact that there are people on the ground with skills, what is lacking is management skills,” said Nqakula.

He emphasised that the community had a central role to play in fighting crime.

Shortage of handcuffs led to escape

2006-11-23T13:20:00.000-08:00

There was a shortage of handcuffs and that is why three prisoners who overpowered him with his service firearm had not been individually cuffed, Inspector Piet Kgafele Maleka told the Johannesburg High Court yesterday.

He was wounded in the chest but survived. His colleague Sergeant Modikeni Riba was fatally wounded but he managed to shoot two of the armed prisoners, one fatally.

This was evidence in the trial of Thulani Ndlovu, 30, of Yeoville and Andrew Thobolo, 56, of Hillbrow.

Earlier this week the two pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, attempted murder, robbery, escaping from police custody, illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition.

“I was fighting. I had been shot. I didn’t give up. I fought while bleeding. I fell out of the van and the next thing I came round in a clinic,” Maleka told the court.

The three prisoners were being conveyed from Witbank Correctional Services to Potchefstroom. Ndlovu and the other prisoner were cuffed together with a pair of handcuffs.

“While travelling along on the N12 the vehicle ran short of petrol. We stopped at the Sasol service station in Lenasia,” he said.

On request Thobolo was escorted to the toilet first. Back in the van Thobolo “grabbed my right arm and twisted it behind my back. The others grabbed my waistband and pulled me inside.

“My firearm was in a holster on the right hand side. Ndlovu took it (the gun) with his right hand,” said Maleka. The trial continues.

The left hand does not know what the right hand is doing

2006-11-23T13:08:00.000-08:00

Dozens of former police officers responding to a call last month by Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula to rejoin the police, have been turned away.

After an urgent meeting in October between six government departments, Business Against Crime and Business Leadership SA, Nqakula said retired police officers and former members of the judiciary would be recalled to help fight crime.

That meeting came after high-level discussions between President Thabo Mbeki and business leaders in August.

During the talks they expressed "grave concern" over attacks on businesses and "poor strategies" used in fighting crime.

Nqakula agreed with Business Leadership South Africa's Michael Spicer that the recall of former police officers from the private sector was a way to boost the capacity of the South African Police Service. "It is vital that we attract these people back if we want to stop crime," he said.

Bringing back former police officers and other crime-fighters would "inject" a wealth of experience into the safety and security department, Nqakula said then.

But a letter, signed by South African Police Service personnel services divisional Commissioner Martha Stander and dated November 3, stresses that a 2002 policy blocking the re-enlistment of police officers has not changed.

The letter has been circulated to all divisional and provincial commissioners, department and section heads at South African Police Service head office, commanders at South African Police Service colleges and training centres and all deputy national commissioners.

In it Stander says the number of inquiries from former police officers wanting to re-enlist "is so vast" that the police has had to clarify its position.

Over the past two days the Pretoria News has received copies of 46 letters from the South African Police Service to former police officers refusing their request to re-enlist.

"Following the announcement that former police officers will be re-enlisted to assist with combating crime, a number of inquiries and applications have been received by head office for consideration," says Stander in the circular.

"The number of inquiries and applications is so vast that it has become necessary to clarify the South African Police Service' position."

The position of the South African Police Service with regard to the re-enlistment of ex-police officers has not changed since April 8 2002, she explains: "The re-enlistment of all former members in the South African Police Service was discontinued with immediate effect through that circular, and the contents of that circular remain in effect."

Former inspector Flippie du Toit said the door was being shut in his face. "It is very confusing when the Minister of Safety and Security says come back but the South African Police Service tell us not to bother them."

Former anti-hijacking unit detective Duppie du Plessis, who has 17 years' experience as a detective, said the messages being sent out were confusing.

"It is clear that the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing."

Asked for comment, Safety and Security spokesperson Hangwani Mulaudzi said the matter was still pending.

"It is part of an anti-crime programme with big business and is still going ahead.

"As far as I know the minister has not cancelled the call-up," he said.

R810m stolen in SA heists

2006-11-23T13:04:00.000-08:00

More than R810m has been stolen in about 3 400 cash-in-transit robberies in South Africa since 2000, it was reported on Tuesday.

The Mercury said these figures emerged on Monday in Durban regional court in response to bail applications by 26 men charged with two robberies in the Umfolozi area.

The State used an affidavit from Anton Widd, general manager of the violent crime office of the SA Banking Risk Information Centre, to oppose the bail bid.

In the document, Widd said this year alone - up until October - saw 468 incidents involving more than R86m.

Last year, there had been 520 reported incidents with a cash loss of almost R200m.

Going back to the year 2000, there had been between 400 and 560 heists each year with between R88m and R140m stolen.

Widd said: "It stands to reason that any threat, trauma or losses for the industry will have a direct influence on the economy. The ripple effect goes without saying."

The 26 accused were travelling in four vehicles when they were arrested last month at the Mvoti Toll Plaza.

It emerged in that 21 of them had previous convictions or cases pending against them.

Night of murder

2006-11-22T12:40:00.000-08:00

The story behind the arrest of Glenn Agliotti - an excerpt from Barry Sergeant’s book “Brett Kebble - The Inside Story”.

As swiftly and silently as he had appeared, the mystery man melted into the darkness. Behind him, the silver sedan’s powerful motor continued to purr, incongruous testimony to German engineering.

The car’s nose was scrunched against the railings that had offered the only bulwark against a headlong plunge onto South Africa’s busiest highway, several metres below. The headlights pierced the black void through the metal slats. The unnatural angle at which the crippled vehicle had mounted the kerbstones would instinctively prompt a passer-by to call paramedics, the police, anyone schooled in dealing with what must surely have been an accident.

But the cellphone call made from the overpass by the mystery man was not to summon help. He knew all too well that there was nothing random about the extremely large and lifeless body slumped behind the steering wheel of the car with Cape Town registration plates. As he pressed the number of someone awaiting his call in Pretoria, he alone knew the full and shocking truth.

Moments before, in a most deliberate act, a hired gun had spewed seven 9-mm bullets through the open window on the driver’s side. A lesser quarry would have died instantly, but in macabre defiance of all natural law, this one had somehow managed to propel the Mercedes S-600 some 500 metres down the deserted, tree-lined street before surrendering to his fate.

As the car drifted across the thankfully empty right-hand lane, rolled onto the kerb and came to a halt, as the lifeblood literally drained from the holes in his upper body, the driver’s three assassins got the hell away from their carefully chosen kill zone.

Some of the vagrants sleeping rough at the nearby garden refuse dump might have seen their VW Polo leave. One hobo might even have watched as the mystery man came out of nowhere to review their handiwork. None of them would have understood why it mattered that the man who had just been murdered at the age of 41 was Brett Kebble.

There was a chill in the air, and later that night, it would rain. Weather-wise, the day had been about as perfect as only early spring on the Highveld can be. But for Kebble, as one newspaper would later report, Tuesday 27 September 2005 was the day on which the perfect storm that had been building for months made landfall in his personal domain.

Of the 14 years since Kebble insinuated himself into South Africa’s take-no prisoners mining sector as the ‘golden boy’, none had been as shitty as what the country’s new black elite referred to as twenty-oh-five. He and his father Roger had lost their last chance to get charges of fraud, conspiracy and insider trading dropped and would now have to go to trial. The National Prosecuting Authority had offered a plea bargain, but insisted that Kebble would have to serve jail time, though this might be no more than 90 days, so he had turned them down. He was only marginally more terrified of spending a single hour in one of South Africa’s prisons than he was of staying overnight in any African state north of the Limpopo. Besides, a guilty plea would bar him from serving as a company director.

And then there was the bloody tax probe. The SA Revenue Service had been sniffing around since 2000, when some or other snoop discovered that Brett hadn’t filed a personal tax return since 1993. His stable of consultants had managed to keep SARS at bay for months, but by April 2006, they would be aggressively going after at least R250 million that Brett and Roger between them owed in back taxes.

There had been unusually high emotional demands, too. Relationships within the family were tense, but it was the black economic empowerment (BEE) brigade that had been neediest of late. Deals that ought to have been closed months before were jammed up, others were stalled somewhere along the pipeline, yet the players still expected their monthly sweeteners, and more. Not long before, Kebble had forked out R600 000 to a Nigerian druglord to settle a cocaine debt run up by one of his ‘celebrity’ black empowerment patsies.

His own stockbroking account was in the red to the tune of R80 million; a clutch of his favourite toy boy Vaughn’s fellow escorts – both male and female – had resorted to blackmail; he’d had to place some of his best-loved properties in both the Cape and Sandton on the market; the Gulfstream and the Learjet were grounded; the fleet of Ferraris and other luxury vehicles was shrinking by the day.

None of this, though, had been as stressful as the bruising showdown from which Kebble had emerged on 30 August not only jobless, but effectively penniless. To be sure, it was deeply humiliating to have been forced out as chief executive of JCI, Randgold & Exploration and Western Areas amid a scramble to locate more than 14 million missing shares and the rest of almost R2 billion that he had siphoned off various company accounts. But the consummate crisis was that he could no longer dip into the corporate piggy bank that had funded not only his personal profligacy for more than a decade, but had also financed the flamboyant lifestyles of those he had made rich and almost famous.

The cash cows had been milked dry. Trading of both Randgold & Exploration and JCI shares was suspended by the Johannesburg Stock Exchange on 1 August, prologue triggering the boardroom end game that culminated in Kebble being booted out.

On 21 September, the international ramifications of the nascent scandal had come into sharp focus when the US Nasdaq took the grave step of delisting Randgold & Exploration. For weeks, even as he mustered his considerable charm, charisma and media cheerleaders to spin catastrophe into a coup de maître, Kebble had been a truly desperate and frightened man.

It wasn’t that he was unduly concerned about the death threats. There had been so many, for so long, that they had almost become routine, and besides, killers with genuine intent rarely warned their victims. Nevertheless, he had hired Clinton Nassif of Central National Security Services in 2004 to ramp up existing precautions, and when the situation warranted, he’d even called on Calla Botha, former rugger-bugger and erstwhile member of the apartheid government’s innocuously named hit squad, the Civil Cooperation Bureau.

After all, someone had shot Stephen Mildenhall, chief investment officer at Allan Gray, outside his Cape Town home in August, and Allan Gray was the single biggest institutional shareholder in JCI, Randgold & Exploration and Western Areas. No one had linked the shooting to the firm’s involvement in Kebble-led companies, but a little extra protection couldn’t hurt. With that in mind, Kebble had recently revisited his life insurance policies and increased them to a whopping R80 million.

The irony was that while his unassuming wife Ingrid and their children, Matthew,Andrew, Hannah and sweet little Lily, stood to inherit a fortune, life as they knew it depended on Kebble finding R5 million, fast. For more than a dozen years, he had cunningly fooled investors, family, friend and foe alike with a slew of bogus transactions involving billions, yet not worth the paper they were written on. But he had never figured out the cash conundrum. There had been assets aplenty and shares by the million, but hard cash was the chimera Kebble never vanquished. No matter how much or how often he stole from the more than 80 companies under his control, regardless of the type and volume of contraband he moved, irrespective of the political patronage he sought and paid for, Brett Kebble’s cash anorexia was incurable.

A frugal man might have stashed several hundred krugerrands or a velvet pouch of uncut diamonds somewhere safe for the proverbial rainy day. But Kebble had got away with grand larceny and grotesque looting for so long that rational thought had been subsumed by hubris. Since being sacked, he had called on every business associate and underworld operator still willing to give him the time of day, all but begging them for help to raise the five measly million he needed just to meet his immediate obligations. They were impervious to his pleas; there was nothing left to grift and his doggerel verse was falling on deaf ears. And then, finally, one man tossed out a lifeline.

True, he was a dangerous man, this Mr X, someone no right-thinking individual would dare to double-cross, but Kebble had been doing dirty business with him since 2002. It had started with cigarettes and cannabis, then run the gamut of organized crime on a global scale, involving Asian triads and the Irish mafia, London gangsters and African warlords with blood diamonds to go.

The deal had been slated to go down 24 hours earlier. Kebble had advanced his weekly Tuesday commute from Cape Town to Johannesburg for that very purpose, draining one of his last active bank accounts of R200 000 on arrival. On Monday night, as he drove to their prearranged rendezvous, Kebble spoke to Mr X and learnt that there was a last-minute hitch – not serious enough to abort the transaction, but sufficiently important to warrant a delay. In due course, cellphone records would show that Kebble was at or very near the Melrose Bird Sanctuary, between the Glenhove and Atholl Oaklands off-ramps on the highway from Johannesburg to Pretoria, when that conversation took place.

On Tuesday 27 September, he lunched with financial journalist David Gleason, his friend of 28 years and unchallenged leader of the pro-Kebble media pack. Around 7 p.m., as the figurative polo ponies at the nearby Inanda Club were being bedded down for the night, spin doctor and Washington-trained lobbyist Dominic Ntsele arrived at Kebble’s home-away-from-home, the magnificent property set in splendid landscaped gardens behind sturdy walls at 65 Fifth Avenue, Illovo. They had originally planned to have breakfast together, but despite the fact that Kebble already had a dinner date, had opted for an early supper instead. A cheerful blaze was crackling in the big fireplace in the main reception room, where the two men chatted briefly before sitting down to a simple meal of steak and salad.

The hands on the expensive timepiece that graced the mantelpiece were nudging 8.30 when Ntsele took his leave. Shortly afterwards, his driver Joseph having been given the night off, Kebble eased himself behind the wheel of his Mercedes and gently rolled down the 50-metre driveway, past the manned guardhouse at the electronic gate and turned right into the quiet suburban street. By South African standards, it was late to be setting off for dinner, but his host, Sello Rasethaba, chief executive of Matodzi Resources, Kebble’s BEE ‘flagship’, lived only a ten-minute drive away, traffic permitting.

Oddly, though, when Kebble’s butler Andrew Minnaar went off duty around 9 p.m., he was surprised to see his employer’s car parked just a little way down Fifth Avenue, the lights and engine both switched off. How long had he been there, and why, have yet to be revealed, but at some point within the next 30 minutes, Kebble was trundling slowly east along Melrose Street Extension, having spoken to Mr X again, the call relayed through the same cellphone mast as their conversations the night before.

Making his way past historic suburbs to Melrose, Kebble might have wondered idly whether Sello’s guests would include deceased ANC president Oliver Tambo’s film-maker son Dali, former Namibian premier Hage Geingob and the retired MPLA general who were all involved in trying to salvage the lucrative but troublesome Koketso diamond deal in Angola’s Lunda Norte province.

But as he approached the pretty little stone bridge over the stream running under Melrose Street, Kebble’s mind would have been focused on nothing but the package he would soon hold in his hands.

At the loneliest point of the leafy, fairly well lit street, with the bird sanctuary on his left, Kebble brought the big Mercedes to a gentle halt and pressed the button to open the window to his right. Two men stepped out from their hiding place under one of the big bluegum trees on the left, close to where the park fence had been cut. They must have been waiting for a while. Police later recovered at least ten Camel cigarette butts from the ground under the tree. A third man held vigil in the VW Polo, out of sight. Two members of the trio had arrived in South Africa very recently, after a circuitous journey that included Mozambique as the last leg.

The third was from Pretoria. But would anyone ever know who had paid for this evening’s deadly events? Was it, as some have speculated, Kebble himself? One of the men, holding a small box, sauntered towards Kebble’s car. There was nothing menacing about his approach, and even though it was a quiet road and a dark night in the world capital of violent crime, Kebble had no foreboding of danger. Mr X had briefed him well, and in a few minutes he could drive on to keep his dinner date.

Suddenly, with clinical precision and at the speed of lightning, there was a gun, and seven muzzle flashes cleaved the night at such close range that Kebble must have tasted sulphur in the instant before adrenalin flooded his mortally wounded body, allowing him to hit the accelerator. By 9.30 p.m., it was over. Mr X had made sure of that before placing his call to Pretoria from the overpass.

Nqakula says we're all right

2006-11-22T11:55:00.000-08:00

Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula had harsh words for the owners of security companies on Tuesday. He called on them to provide better safety for their employees — security guards who are targeted in cash-in-transit heists.

The minister was speaking at the National Community-Police Consultative Forum in Midrand.

"The poor guards are driving vehicles that are not reinforced. Those business people have money, why are they not reinforcing those vehicles? Why are those companies not training people adequately and providing them with high-calibre weapons?"

He said while police were willing to help train guards, arming them was the responsibility of their employers. There were also efforts underway to amend the Private Security Industry Regulatory Act to set minimum safety standards.

Many cash heists were inside jobs, he said. "Some of those companies have been infiltrated." Nqakula cited a case where a woman working for a security company had been linked to 11 robberies. "All she does is switch off the alarm to allow those criminals to go in."

"We need to evolve a system where we need to vet people working in crucial industries," he said.

Nqakula called for greater community involvement in crime fighting as 80 percent of it, so-called social crime, happened in places common to both victims and perpetrators and were connected to substance abuse. He said in such cases police would always be reactive. "We in the community have a responsibility to make interventions," he said.

The other 20 percent of the country's crime, and which was the sole responsibility of the police to stop, was organised and included cash-in-transit heists.

While cash heists had increased by 74 percent in the past year, according to figures released in September, he played down their part in the bigger crime picture.

"They are few compared to the rest [of crimes in South Africa]."

There were 163 more heists in the year to September, bringing the total to over 300.

He said there was no need to declare a state of emergency over the levels of crime in the country. Since 1995 crime levels had "very consistently" been going down.

Nqakula admitted that levels of serious and violent crime were still "unacceptably high" but said these were on the decrease.

Rates of crimes except murder, rape and indecent assault had been brought down by a targeted seven to 10 percent annually.

He also called for an investigation into claims that Ekurhuleni metro police chief Robert McBride shot at protesting municipal employees on Sunday. He expressed concern over claims of tensions between McBride and officials in his department.

"Of course we are concerned when people who are supposed to work jointly have conflict among themselves."

The minister also repeated his stance that action would only be taken against national police Commissioner Jackie Selebi based on concrete evidence.

"It will only be on the basis of concrete evidence that we will be able to do anything... in the absence of that we are not going to do witch hunting."

He said Selebi's friendship with Glenn Agliotti, recently arrested in connection with the murder of the mining magnate Brett Kebble, could also not be used to suspend Selebi.

"We can't act simply because people are saying they are friends. That means that everywhere we must look at the friendships that people have."

He said their relationship would only warrant investigation based on evidence of wrongdoing.

Kebble can opens further

2006-11-19T10:49:00.000-08:00

Another business associate of slain mining magnate Brett Kebble's pending arrest Down Under, and the ruling party's unanimous support for embattled National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi, added twists to South Africa's high-profile murder mystery at the weekend.

The splash of Sunday newspaper coverage - much of it attributed to unnamed sources - followed the arrest this week of businessman Glenn Agliotti.

Both Kebble and Selebi had been friends with Agliotti, who now has the media reputation of being known as "The Landlord" in the
drug and smuggling world, a divorcee after two wives dumped him for bigamy and a police informer.

Sunday papers reported that, according to the police and the Scorpions, Agliotti had allegedly approached Kebble's former security man, Clinton Nassif, to assist in an orchestrated assassination that would leave Kebble's family with life insurance payouts as he faced major debts.

However, the Afrikaans newspaper Rapport reported that, because Kebble apparently tried to escape the scene, it gave credit to a theory that he may have been killed in an illegal diamond-dealing trap.

"It was known that in his last days Kebble was desperate to get his hands on money and would have done almost anything to make a few million rands to afford his and his family's high lifestyle," the report read.

Kebble, who was shot dead in his car in Johannesburg's northern suburbs in September last year, had reportedly offered Agliotti R1,5-million to have the job done.

The Sunday Times reported that James Stratton, Kebble's business associate and a beneficiary of Kebble's fraudulent transactions, who is in Australia, had spoken to him two hours before he was gunned down.

Stratton had blocked Kebble family investigator Judge Willem Heath from probing the security company of Clinton Nassif in connection with the murder.

The report read that "an official close to the investigation" had told the Sunday Times investigators were keen to question Stratton after receiving certain information from Nassif.

Nassif reportedly got police to release the vehicle in which Kebble was shot dead before proper forensic tests had been done.

His arrest for insurance fraud paved the way to Agliotti's arrest.

Nassif and three others have turned State witness against Agliotti in the Kebble murder case.

Attributing intelligence sources, City Press reported that Agliotti told Nassif Kebble "wants this thing to look like a robbery" and needed "professionals" to do the job.

Nassif contacted infamous club bouncer, Mickey Schultz, and his two accomplices, Faizel Smith and Nigel McGurk, to carry out the "hit".

City Press's report pointed out: "The fact that the Scorpions are prepared to offer immunity from prosecution to the actual killers and go only for Agliotti, is seen as a continuation of the turf war, with the spotlight falling on Selebi and his now-public association with Agliotti."

The Sunday newspapers' coverage also gave insight into the who-knows-who and who came from where.

City Press reported that Selebi's friendship with Agliotti started in 1992 when Selebi headed the Repatriation Unit at Shell House, the African National Congress's headquarters.

Agliotti donated shoes to help comrades returning from exile.

As the ANC did not have a proper vetting system, the party did not know the backgrounds of people with whom it was dealing.

"Friendships and bonds formed then - but the question is what did Selebi do when he realised that Agliotto is a shadowy character," City Press quoted Selebi's aides as saying.

"We know the relations soured. The last time Agliotti met Selebi was in November last year."

According to the Sunday Times, Agliotti, the grandson of an Italian immigrant, grew up in a family torn apart by tragedy and wealth, left nothing in his will by his father who left all to his other son, Julius.

Then there's the reported sour grapes between former Johannesburg International Airport (now OR Tambo) security head and former British spy Paul O'Sullivan and Selebi.

O'Sullivan is behind allegations that Selebi allegedly received a R50 000 bribe and had a secret overseas account into which criminals paid him money.

He also claimed that Selebi had vested interests in the appointment of Kusela Security at the airport because its boss, Noel Ngwenya, was Selebi's friend.

City Press said that according to airport sources, O'Sullivan's problems began when he failed a vetting process after Cabinet decided airports were national key points.

Later, the Airports Company of SA felt that a five-year security plan for the airport was sub-standard.

According to the Sunday Independent, Nassif's security company is listed in financial records uncovered by forensic auditors as having received more than R7-million between June 2004 and Kebble's death last year for "security reasons".

The Sunday Times reported that Nassif had become a multimillionaire after having grown up in Mayfair, Johannesburg.

According to a City Press report, he had used his status as a police drugs informant to push his own drugs into and out of the country.

O’Sullivan breaks down

2006-11-18T15:11:00.000-08:00

Former Airports Company SA security chief Paul O’Sullivan - "outed" as the author of a dossier alleging the involvement of senior police officials in a criminal organisation - battled tears today as he described attempts on his life and the effects of a "character assassination".

O’Sullivan told the Pretoria Press Club that gunmen had twice fired at his car, he’d had to send his wife away to protect her from potential harm and couldn’t spend holidays with his children. He’d also lost his job.

He alleges it all began after he terminated an airport security contract, back in 2001, only to find the company had influential friends and contacts.

He was then harassed, sacked from his job and his life threatened. He said he reported this to government agencies like the Independent Complaints Directorate and the courts.

He has also embarked on numerous actions and court cases in the intervening years in an attempt to fight his dismissal from Acsa and to "combat the conspiracy against me", but says he has been left penniless and without justice.

During his ongoing "David and Goliath" battle, O’Sullivan said he had begun an intelligence gathering exercise that pointed to National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi being associated with people like controversial businessman Glenn Agliotti, who is under scrutiny for alleged involvement in a huge smuggling syndicate. With Agliotti’s arrest by the Scorpions this week, as a suspect in the 2005 murder of mining boss Brett Kebble, O’Sullivan said Selebi should resign his position.

Posing the question "where to now?", O’Sullivan said: "Those that are already in the criminal justice system must face due process. Those that need to be brought into the criminal justice system, whoever they are, should be brought in.

"Selebi should acknowledge that he has failed the government and people of South Africa and resign immediately, to allow the men and women with hearts of lions (police) to be led by ethical leaders and not by donkeys."

-- Sapa contacted Director Sally de Beer, Selebi’s spokeswoman, for comment. She responded saying:

"The commissioner does not want to comment on his claims beyond saying that we would take particular action at particular time."

Kebble probe hiccups

2006-11-18T14:55:00.000-08:00

The investigation into Brett Kebble’s death has been controversial from the start.

Investigators appointed by the Kebble family to assist the police probe were adamant that the crime scene investigation was botched and handled unprofessionally.

But late in 2005 the independent investigators appointed by the Kebbles to look into Brett’s death were told by the police that their services were no longerrequired.

Clinton Nassif, who provided Kebble’s security, ordered the premature removal of Kebble’s car from police custody late in 2005, before forensic investigators had had a look at the vehicle.

He got away with it.

At the end of 2005 it came to light that the bullets used to kill Kebble were of a rare “low-velocity” variety, usually used only by “bodyguards and anti-terrorist operatives”. They are designed to not exit the body, thus preventing the deaths of bystanders. The bullets require specially adapted pistols.

It was also revealed that the murder weapon was fired at close range, and that the muzzle of the gun was rammed into Kebble’s mouth with force.

He was struck by seven bullets and also assaulted with the muzzle of a firearm.

At the beginning of 2006 a number of investigators were removed from the Kebble investigation, allegedly because they leaked information to the media on Kebble’s supposed sexual activities with male prostitutes.

Mid-2006 saw the first mention of possible links between Commissioner Jackie Selebi and Kebble through an intricate web of relationships reported on by the Mail & Guardian.

The media report set out a wide net of interactions between various people linked to a drug and cigarette-smuggling criminal network.

It was mentioned that the Scorpions could be looking into some of the leads the weekly newspaper had followed.

In August 2006 a homeless man claimed to have seen the Kebble killing take place.

He alleges to have seen Kebble meet the occupants of two BMWs. One of these men was apparently wearing an ear-piece, and the homeless man saw him again on television weeks later during the Jacob Zuma trial.

The man claimed to be able to identify Kebble’s attackers.

In October Nassif was arrested for alleged insurance fraud.

It is understood that this arrest flowed from wider Scorpions investigations into smuggling rings in which Nassif and Glenn Agliotti were believed to be involved.

Last week Commissioner Selebi said he was hopeful of a breakthrough in the Kebble case.

This was after the Mail & Guardian reported the Scorpions were looking into the matter in an investigation labelled “Project Bad Guys”.

Another dent in police's armour

2006-11-18T14:39:00.000-08:00

The arrest of a friend of South Africa's top police officer for murder, signals further embarrassment for the beleaguered law enforcement agency in one of the world's most crime-ridden countries.

Members of the elite Scorpions crime-fighting unit carried out the arrest of Johannesburg businessman Glenn Agliotti at dawn on Thursday for the mafia-style killing of mining tycoon Brett Kebble last year.

But while the breakthrough in the case would normally have been a cause for celebration, Agliotti's friendship with national police Commissioner Jackie Selebi has instead triggered calls for the top cop's resignation.

"I've never denied my relationship with Glenn. Never.

"It has never been a secret," Selebi told The Star, sister newspaper of the Pretoria News, on Friday.

"I don't know of his alleged criminality. He did not tell me about it."

Commentators, however, believe that not only has Selebi been hugely damaged by his ties to Agliotti, long regarded as a key figure in the underworld, but so has President Thabo Mbeki's government, which expressed its confidence in Selebi only last week after reports that he was under the surveillance of the Scorpions.

The Mail and Guardian weekly, which broke the story of the ties between the two men, said the arrest had "opened up perhaps the biggest can of legal worms in South Africa's criminal history".

"Agliotti's arrest must come as a huge embarrassment to the police chief and to the Cabinet, which publicly backed him last week," the newspaper added.

Opposition parties have been quick to capitalise on the situation.

"How is it that in a civilised nation, we have a situation where a police commissioner is associated with someone whom people are referring to as a South African mafia don?"

The main opposition Democratic Alliance's shadow security spokesperson Dianne Kohler-Barnard asked.

The DA has called for Selebi to be axed by Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula, a particular whipping boy for the opposition parties since he told MPs that those "whingeing" about crime should emigrate.

A spokesperson for the minister said Nqakula had only just returned from a trip to the United Nations and was "appraising himself of the situation".

Kebble's murder was one of 18 528 carried out last year, making South Africa one of the homicide capitals of the world.

Flaws in the investigation into Kebble's killing may explain why only a minority of murder cases are ever solved.

David Klatzow, a forensic expert and private investigator who was hired by Kebble's family after the killing, said there had been a "tremendous" decline in the standard of the police's forensic work.

"The damage to the scene was so gross and the abuse of normal procedures of forensic investigations and crime scene procurement so abysmal that it raised the question as to whether it was done deliberately in order to make prosecutions unviable," he told a public radio station.

Others noted that it was the Scorpions, South Africa's version of the FBI and who are answerable to Mbeki, rather than the police to arrest Agliotti.

Since its creation in 1999, the unit has shown a willingness to take on high-profile targets such as former British premier Margaret Thatcher's son Mark, who was arrested for financing an attempted coup in Equatorial Guinea.

The Scorpions themselves, however, have not been immune from embarrassment.

The former deputy director and former strategic operations unit chief are both facing charges of theft, fraud and corruption.

It is an open secret that the Scorpions have managed to get up the nose of the regular police force.

"The fact that the Scorpions effected an arrest while the South African Police Service has been investigating the matter for more than a year, proves that the Scorpions have far better investigative skills and abilities than the police," said Kenneth Meshoe, leader of the African Christian Democratic Party.

Kohler-Barnard said South Africa could ill afford any such rivalry.

"How can you have a situation where the Scorpions are literally competing with the South African police force? When the entire nation should be focused on dealing with the criminals, instead we are watching infighting when they should be working as a team".

He's my friend, finish and klaar

2006-11-17T11:07:00.000-08:00

The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) on Friday added their voices to calls for police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi's suspension in the wake of alleged crime boss Glenn Agliotti's arrest in connection with the Brett Kebble murder.

IFP spokesperson Velaphi Ndlovu said in a statement that to ensure the impartiality of further investigations in the case, the IFP advised Selebi to take a leave of absence.

"Once the investigation and court case is concluded, Mr Selebi can then take whatever course of action is available to him at that time."

Ndlovu said the IFP was pleased about the positive developments being made in the case, but could not help but raise concern regarding the length of time it had taken the police to get this far.

ACDP leader Kenneth Meshoe said the fact that the Scorpions effected an arrest while the police had been investigating the matter for more than a year proved that the Scorpions had far better investigative skills and abilities than the police.

"This provides further evidence that placing the Scorpions under the police national commissioner would hamper the effectiveness of the Scorpions," he said.

The relationship between Selebi and "a man who has been accused of a crime such as murder", raised serious questions that had to be answered by Selebi himself or, failing which, he had to be investigated.

"If Mr Selebi claims that he did not know that his friend Mr Agliotti was involved in activities of this nature, then all the intelligence agencies in the country have failed not only Mr Selebi, but also the country itself.

"If it is so that the national commissioner was aware of the alleged criminal activities of Mr Agliotti, why did he maintain the relationship, if not for some form of benefit?

"These are the questions to which we urgently require answers."

Selebi should do the right thing and step down while the investigation was taking place, or be suspended by the president with immediate effect.

Selebi should further abstain from interfering with investigations by the Scorpions until the case was closed, Meshoe said.

Earlier, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported the controversy around Selebi was expected to be discussed at the African National Congress's (ANC) national executive committee meeting in Johannesburg on Friday.

The ANC earlier expressed support for Selebi, but indicated it could review its position if new information was brought forward, the broadcaster said.

Meanwhile, the man who compiled a dossier painting a picture of a criminal organisation involving senior police officials, including Selebi, said on Friday he felt vindicated by the arrest of Agliotti for the murder of Brett Kebble.

"You should resign now, finished and klaar," Paul O'Sullivan said about Selebi.

The former security chief at the Airports Company South Africa said the fact that Selebi had a relationship with Agliotti was enough reason for him to resign.

Selebi was recently quoted as saying of his relationship with businessman Agliotti: "[He's] my friend, finish and klaar."

Where is Kebble's killer?

2006-11-17T10:57:00.000-08:00

A former Hell's Angels biker who, it is believed, killed mining magnate Brett Kebble last October, has vanished, the Star reported on Friday.

The newspaper also reported that it had learnt that a Johannesburg police commissioner had apparently been arrested in connection with Glenn Agliotti, the businessman arrested on Thursday morning in connection with the murder.

The Star reported that police and Scorpions investigators said they had arranged to meet Kebble's alleged killer after he had made a statement, but that he had failed to turn up.

The disappearance of the man -- known to be a prominent bouncer in Gauteng -- follows confirmation by police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi that the alleged gunman was one of four men who had struck a deal with the Scorpions, the report read.

Another is security-company owner Clinton Nassif who, after Kebble's murder last October in his car in Johannesburg, reportedly got police to release the vehicle before proper forensic tests had been done.

Selebi told the Star that police had planned to arrest the four for Kebble's murder but found that the Scorpions had already arrested them -- and granted them immunity.

The Star reported that Selebi had been kept in the dark about Agliotti's arrest by the Scorpions on Thursday and was informed of it three hours after it had happened.

Asked during an interview with Talk Radio 702 why the Scorpions had made the arrests, Selebi said: "We went for other people; there were about five people we were aiming at. And when we got to those people it became clear to us that they had entered into some arrangement with the people who had finally arrested them.

"So, it was no point, it would have ruined everything if we went ahead with those people."

National police spokesperson Sally de Beer said she was under orders from the head of the detective team working on the case not to comment at all on these matters.

Scorpions spokesperson Makhosini Nkosi could not be reached for comment.

Police duties
Meanwhile, Selebi wants journalists to stop calling his cellphone as he wants to concentrate on official duties, De Beer said. "For the time being, we will not be conducting interviews and responding to media questions and requests for one-on-one discussions unless it relates directly to police crime prevention and combating duties," she said.

"The commissioner would now like to concentrate on his official duties and we call on all journalists to refrain from contacting on his cellular phone."

Selebi's relationship with Agliotti has received extensive media coverage. Selebi was recently quoted as saying of his relationship with businessman Agliotti: "[He's] my friend, finish and klaar."

The South African Police Service will not give any details on the investigation, De Beer said.

"An arrest has been made in the Kebble murder case and investigations continue. Let us all respect the due process of the law and allow all facts to be revealed in the appropriate manner when the case goes to trial."

De Beer said Selebi has given a number of media interviews in recent months. The commissioner has "at all times" been honest and frank and invited questions.

'Resign now'
Former security official Paul O'Sullivan -- the author of a dossier alleging the involvement of senior police officials in a criminal organisation -- said on Friday that Selebi should resign and the people appointed by him should be investigated.

O'Sullivan told the National Press Club in Pretoria on Friday that he felt vindicated by the arrest of Agliotti for the murder of Kebble.

O'Sullivan, the former security chief at Airports Company South Africa, told the press club: "A thorough investigation should take place with a view to determining who Selebi has placed in office and where, to ensure that all the cancer is removed lest it resurface."

"You should resign now, finish and klaar," he said about Selebi.

The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) on Friday added their voices to calls for Selebi's suspension in the wake of Agliotti's arrest.

IFP spokesperson Velaphi Ndlovu said in a statement that to ensure the impartiality of further investigations in the case, the IFP advised Selebi to take a leave of absence.

ACDP leader Kenneth Meshoe said the fact that the Scorpions effected an arrest while the police had been investigating the matter for more than a year proved that the Scorpions had far better investigative skills and abilities than the police.

O'Sullivan told the Press Club he had passed on information to the Scorpions about what he claimed was Selebi's involvement with criminals. Other than that, he said, the fact that Selebi had a relationship with Agliotti was enough reason for him to resign.

O'Sullivan said the syndicate was involved in several activities, including drug and human trafficking, trafficking of counterfeit goods and corruption. "It was clear to me that the tentacles of this syndicate went right into the headquarters of the South African Police Service," he said.

O'Sullivan has claimed that the commissioner has made "vicious and unwarranted attacks" against him. Selebi, in turn, has accused O'Sullivan of mounting a smear campaign against him.

SA's new murder capital

2006-11-16T01:48:00.000-08:00

Nyanga may have the official tag of murder capital of South Africa, but more murders have been reported in Khayelitsha in the past year.

The sprawling township's three police stations had 410 reported murders from April last year to March.

According to crime statistics released by Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula in September, the Khayelitsha police station recorded 219 murders and Nyanga 284.

But Khayelitsha's sister police stations, Harare and Lingelethu West, which were built two years ago, recorded 143 and 48 reported murders, respectively.

Before the new stations were opened, the Khayelitsha police station had 358 reported murders in the 2003/04 financial year, according to Nqakula's figures.

In 2002/03 and in 2003/04, when the shack-congested township had only one police station, it recorded 528 and 358 reported murders, respectively.

But after the establishment of the Lingelethu and Harare police stations, policing responsibilities - including the recording of cases - were shared according to each police station's jurisdiction.

Nyanga police station Senior Superintendent Duma Ntsezo said last week that shack congestion made effective policing, including vehicle patrols, difficult and was one of the main factors contributing to rampant crime in his area.

Keeping a low profile in the murder capital of SA

2006-11-14T01:11:00.000-08:00

The police chief tasked with sorting out rampant crime in Nyanga - which boasts the country's highest murder rate - has had a low profile since he took office in September.

In fact station commander Kenneth Mkhize has not been at his office since early October, and Director Hendrik Burger was appointed acting station commander on Friday.

Mkhize is apparently on sick leave, according to insiders at the station.

However, police spokesperson Randal Stoffels said that "this office is not going to comment on that, this information is of personal nature".

Nyanga's police are faced with a daunting challenge as insiders say that "hardly two consecutive weekends pass without a murder being reported to the police".

Releasing crime statistics two months ago, Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula identified the Nyanga policing area as the country's murder capital.

There were 284 reported murders in Nyanga in the past financial year, the worst per capital murder rate nationwide.

The area also recorded the highest Western Cape figures for attempted murder - 163 - and rape - 325.

Mkhize was appointed to turn the station around and give direction on strategic crime prevention.

In an interview with the Cape Argus, Senior Superintendent Duma Ntsezo said: "Our policing area is riddled with all sorts of crime but we are doing our best."

The Nyanga policing area of jurisdiction is about 15km², and includes Nyanga, Crossroads and the informal settlements of Kosovo, Samora Machel and Browns Farm.

"With shacks close to each other, and loud music blaring at the shebeen next door, jobless people roaming the streets doing nothing but drinking - these are the kinds of situations that affect the behaviour of people, especially the young, in an area like that," Ntsezo said.

He urged the authorities to consider "de-densification" of informal settlements.

"A crime challenge needs a multi-pronged approach involving all parties, looking at the housing factor and the illegal sale of liquor, for instance," Ntsezo said.

"Shebeens are giving us a problem. It's drunken brawls which end up in stabbings and killings, people (becoming) victims on their way to and from shebeens.

"Liquor is a source of income... but a way must be found to regulate its sale."

Just last week, two teenage boys were beaten to death, allegedly by a mob in a suspected vigilante attack at the Kosovo informal settlement.

Ntsezo said such incidents were often reported at the station.

"The layout of this area, with congested shacks, poses a huge challenge to effective policing. But despite that, our community policing forum is giving us a great deal of help the worrying factor is that the broader community has not realised the importance of working with the police."

He said the community refused to give information, possibly to protect people who are involved in vigilante action.

"In other instances, police investigations on murder are stalled by the family itself, when the suspected murderer or his or her family has offered to cover the burial costs of the deceased," said Ntsezo.

He called for the community to participate in combating crime.

"The suspects are known, it's a matter of people of coming together as partners in the fight against crime."

"Despite the awful tag Nyanga has earned as a murder capital, we shall do our utmost to rise to the challenge together," said Ntsezo.

Repeated attempts to interview Mkhize have failed.

America's Funniest Home Videos is nothing compared to this

2006-11-13T08:48:00.000-08:00

A woman wearing a black jacket walks along Selby Street in downtown Johannesburg. She's holding a large rock in one hand and keeps looking over her shoulder, brandishing it at someone following her.

A man in baggy, torn clothes staggers after her. She shouts and throws the stone at him. He wrestles her to the ground, picks her up like a screaming baby, carries her behind a pillar and rapes her.

On the sixth floor of the Carlton Centre, a team of "incident analysts" sits before a bank of screens, following the events as they unfold. The rape has been caught on film by one of 176 surveillance cameras dotted around the CBD.

Unfortunately, it's too late to come to the victim's rescue.

"The cops were busy with another rape somewhere else. It was one of those nights. We had two rapes in one night," explains Maurice Kordom, operations director at the centre.

The police finally arrive and drag the rapist, pants around his ankles, off the woman. The woman, now screaming, takes off her shoe to beat her assailant.

The crime rate in central Johannesburg has dropped by 80% since surveillance cameras were installed in 2000, says Neville Huxham, communications manager of Cueincident, the company responsible for the management of the cameras. Cape Town was the first city to use such cameras in 1998, and Pretoria installed a surveillance system in 2004.

However, there isn't a single camera in Hillbrow, Berea and other crime-ridden inner-city suburbs, and the Johannesburg city council is unsure when it will be able to afford to outfit these areas, says Virgil James, spokesperson for the mayoral committee of public safety.

Shaped like a cue ball, one closed-circuit television camera costs R18 000. That's excluding the kilometres of fibre-optic wire needed to connect the camera to the control room, and the round-the-clock maintenance costs.

The cameras are equipped with 300mm lenses that can bring objects 3km away into sharp focus -- such as the man attempting to have sex with a guard dog.

Dressed in smart cream pants and a collared yellow T-shirt, the man saunters up to the sleeping dog and nudges it with his foot. He then bends down to stroke the dog's penis. When the dog finally stands up, the man unzips his pants and tries to mount the bull mastiff by lifting its hind legs. The dog snaps at him and the man sulkily walks away.

"It's amazing what people will do when they think no one is watching … We've seen men dig holes in the ground to have sex with them," says Kordom.

The surveillance cameras also caught out a bank employee who spent his lunch break paying a homeless child for sex in Eloff Street Extension.

Lucas Molotsi, an incident analyst, points to a screen showing an empty parking lot that lies between the Nelson Mandela Bridge and the Queen Elizabeth Bridge on Ntemi Piliso Street. "See all those lights," he says as he points at groups of blurry fires with men huddled around them, "that's a big gambling area. We've watched men gamble their cars away here."

Kordom, who has been watching the screen over Molotsi's shoulder, instructs him to focus on a group of six clubbers walking down an empty street. Partygoers are followed by the cameras as they stumble home, as drunken people are vulnerable to armed robbery, pickpocketing and rape, says Kordom.

Ndumiso Netshiozwe, an analyst who likes to spend his breaks playing a card game called casino, says he took the job as an analyst in 2003 because he wanted to fight crime. When he's on his shift, his eyes do not leave the screen for a second, not even while being interviewed.

Netshiozwe says it's hard to witness terrible incidents on screen, knowing it's not just a movie. "Sometimes we see terrible motor-vehicle accidents where there are children involved in the accident," he says.

While some footage is horrific, such as a taxi driver who deliberately runs over a pedestrian and a robber who shoots a man in the stomach from a metre away, other incidents are just plain bizarre and stupid.

"You know America's Funniest Home Videos? That's nothing compared to what we have here," says Kordom.

We watch a video of a man who smashes a Foschini display window and robs the store of its fully clothed mannequins. "It was Valentine's Day, so we took it he was just trying to steal something nice for his girlfriend," says Kordom, laughing, while we watch the man run into the park with three mannequins under each arm. The romantic thief was arrested within minutes.

Homeless children who live on the city streets use the cameras as protection at night. They usually huddle around the camera at the corner of Fox and Kruis streets; if they need the police, they signal to the camera.

Central Johannesburg used to be so dangerous that the technicians who installed the surveillance cameras were often robbed and needed to be accompanied by the police, says Kordom. "Now there's a very big difference … I'm not afraid of Johannesburg any more. It's no longer a matter of looking over your shoulder."

Most of the deaths were stress-related

2006-11-13T08:27:00.000-08:00

The police are buckling under the pressure of a shocking increase in the number of attacks on policemen.

The SAPS's recently released annual report reveals that attacks on policemen went up by 76,7 percent to 1 274 during 2005 to 2006, compared with 721 attacks in the previous 12 months. This increase in attacks on policemen is the highest in five years.

Compounding the stress on the force were the high annual murder rate of policemen, poor pay, uncertainty over the future and their unrelenting exposure to gruesome crimes, said Bilkis Omar, the senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria.

The annual report said 585 policemen had been murdered in the past five years, 95 of them in the past year. Most of those killed were not on duty.

The men and women were murdered despite increased efforts to improve police officers' vigilance and the training they were given on how to respond to dangerous situations.

Omar said stress had resulted in a high number of policemen committing suicide. Charles Nqakula, the minister of safety and security, told parliament recently that, between 1998 and 2002, 508 officers took their own lives.

"Most of the deaths were stress-related," Omar said.

She said policemen often refused trauma counselling in a display of macho bravado, because the counselling was not confidential and because of fears that the cost of counselling would exhaust the benefits allowance of their medical-aid scheme.

Omar said public-service regulations obliged the SAPS to help policemen when they had dealt with trauma-inducing incidents, such as the rape of a young child. Those traumatised should be debriefed by their commanders and then offered counselling, she said.

But because the debriefing was not compulsory many officers did not take advantage of it.

"Debriefing is a serious challenge for the police, given the high crime rate," she said.

Omar said the police had faced many challenges during the past 12 years, including having to deal with the transformation of the apartheid SAP into today's SAPS, affirmative action and the continuing restructuring of the service.

The police feel that they are poorly paid and unappreciated by the government, and the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union criticised a claim by Trevor Manuel, the minister of finance, who said on Tuesday that the police were fairly paid. The union said the salary for entry-level policemen was R5 740 a month.

Several policemen told The Sunday Independent that the minister spoke from a position of privilege.

"Manuel does not have to survive on less than R5 000 a month. We have families to feed and children to send to school on the amount he probably spends on groceries," said a frustrated Johannesburg policeman.

A senior police official confirmed that stress was hampering the police, despite programmes to help them deal with it.

"We have a problem but we are tackling it vigorously," she said.

The attacks on, and murders of, police officers continue.

Most of the increase in the number of attacks on policemen could be due to the increase in rioting in protest against tardy service delivery to poor communities, the police annual report said.

Most attacks on policemen occurred while they were pursuing suspects and making arrests.

Research, according to the police, did not support the view that policemen were most often killed for their firearms, or that there was a connection between police corruption and police murders.

"When policemen are off duty, they are at greater risk of being killed because they are not usually wearing their bullet-proof vests and they are less vigilant than when they are on duty," the report said.

Trevor Bloem, the spokesperson for Nqakula, said counselling services for policemen were under-utilised because of the belief that accepting counselling was a sign of weakness and would be prejudicial to prospects for promotion.

Bloem said that, despite training programmes to make the police more streetwise in countering attacks, the number of attacks had risen. But, he said, there had been a decline in police murders, which suggested that the training was having an effect.

In 2001 to 2002, 139 police officers were killed and the following year 150, but during the past three years the numbers had come down from 108 to 94 and 95.

Underworld heavy recorded coffee dates with commissioner

2006-11-12T11:03:00.000-08:00

The Scorpions have seized a diary that reveals that South Africa’s most senior policeman has much more than a casual friendship with the man dubbed the “landlord” of a huge smuggling syndicate.

Glenn Agliotti’s diary, seized from the boot of his car, contains dates and times of regular meetings he had with National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi.

The diary also contains other explosive information on Agliotti’s international operations.

The Scorpions seized the diary when they raided Agliotti’s home in September as part of a criminal investigation into a R250-million drug bust, racketeering, money-laundering and corruption.

For months Selebi has cried foul, saying Agliotti is just a friend, and that there is nothing sinister about their relationship.

But the diary shows that the two men were in constant contact, setting up appointments to have “tea, coffee and breakfasts”.

The contents of the diary shed more light on the inappropriate relationship that Selebi, president of Interpol, has with Agliotti, a known underworld character.

Agliotti’s involvement with contraband is detailed in a 144-page dossier detailing a smuggling organisation, which forms part of a Scorpions investigation.

Details of the seizure of Agliotti’s diary come in a week in which controversy has raged over the release of the dossier of affidavits and statements from witnesses and informers inside the smuggling network.

Selebi repeated his dismissal of the dossier as a massive smear campaign against him and named its compiler, Paul O’Sullivan, dismissed head of security for the Airports Company of South Africa.

The dossier reveals how Agliotti boasted about his connection to Selebi. Affidavits in the dossier make claims about Selebi, Agliotti and Clint Nassif, owner of the security company employed by mining magnate Brett Kebble. Nassif was arrested by the Scorpions and appeared in court on a R500000 fraud charge two weeks ago.

Attached to Nassif’s docket was an annexure that states there is an investigation into the offences of murder and conspiracy to commit murder, and corruption. It does not state whose murder.

Agliotti’s diary was removed from a briefcase taken out of the boot of his car by the Scorpions during an early-morning raid on his Johannesburg home.

A court order authorised the Scorpions to seize from various premises, including Agliotti’s:

Any documents showing any communication with the SA Police Service or “individuals of the SAPS”; and
Any item that may show a link with SAPS activities — specifically any document indicating links with police officials mentioned in the application.

“There is reason to suspect that the offences of crimes of corruption, defeating the ends of justice, drug trafficking, fraud, racketeering and money- laundering are being committed by those listed,” the warrant read.

Agliotti’s name is second on the list, which also includes the names of former and current policemen.

Agliotti said: “A diary is just a diary ... Selebi is my friend ... We had tea, coffee and breakfasts together.”

Maverick Masupatsela, a company where Agliotti was a director, had established a partnership with Masupatsela Investment Holdings, a BEE company controlled by the late Brett Kebble’s Consolidated Mining Management Services (CMMS).

Selebi said: “Where I have time and Agliotti has time we meet and talk about social things. I have never been in discussion with him about criminality. I do not know if he is involved.

“He would never be involved in any sort of crime in my presence. ”

This week Agliotti — who for months has not spoken publicly about the allegations surrounding him — said it was unfair that he had been labelled as a “landlord” and “mafia boss”.

“I was on my way to gym just before 6am when the Scorpions stopped me and told me they had a warrant to search my home.

“Jackie is purely my friend and I met him years ago. This is all just about revenge and is a smear campaign.”

But in a sworn statement to the Scorpions, a state witness claims that Agliotti paid him to move stolen goods.

Although his claims have not been tested in court as yet, this witness details how he received calls from Agliotti to move stolen unbranded clothing, cigarettes, cigars, drugs and a wide range of liquor from bonded warehouses to buyers.

The witness also claims that while doing jobs for Agliotti he met a number of policemen who claimed that they had come from Selebi’s office.

These policemen, he said, would illegally seize goods from warehouses and then sell them. Some of the policemen’s names in his statement also appear on the search-and-seizure order obtained by the Scorpions to raid Agliotti and 16 others.

Smoke and mirrors

2006-11-11T12:51:00.000-08:00

THE allegations of links between the Mafia and our top police echelons cast the SA Police Services in a bad light. The claims come at a time when the police are battling to hold back the swelling crime wave and citizens continue to worry about their personal safety.

Most South Africans are not sure what to make of the claims that national commissioner Jackie Selebi has been bankrolled by the Mafioso and that the rot of corruption has infiltrated deeply into SAPS.

A dossier containing the allegation was leaked amid allegations that the Scorpions, the elite investigations unit, had been keeping Selebi under surveillance.

Selebi has since protested his innocence, arguing that the allegations are part of an elaborate smear campaign – a denial that has become a familiar refrain in South Africa.

“I do not do crime, I am not corrupt,” Selebi has said. Selebi’s accuser is reportedly sticking to his claims.

Is our police chief really a crook who connives with top criminals and protects their interests? Or is he an innocent victim of unscrupulous people who are using innuendos to damage his reputation?

The whole issue has become smoke and mirrors. It is difficult to know who or what to believe. While confidence in the police services has never been high, particularly among those who have been at the receiving end of criminal activity, it will take a further beating from these allegations.

The SAPS can ill-afford to do its work properly if its image remains tainted in this way.

As head of the international police fraternity, Interpol, Selebi is supposed to have an impeccable reputation. The position also puts him at the forefront of the fight against organised crime, not only locally but internationally.

It is unfortunate that the claims against him have been doing the rounds, and he has kept quiet about the matter for so long. Equally unfortunate was his failure to appear before Parliament’s safety and security oversight committee recently to shed some light on this matter.

The press briefing he held on Sunday to do damage control was a classic case of too little too late – the damage has already been done. It is about time Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula stepped in and took the public into his confidence about the matter.

In addition, Nqakula should establish an independent inquiry to probe the claims and get to the bottom of the whole saga.

That way the truth will out, and the public will know what to believe.

If he is indeed guilty, he will get his just desserts. But if he is innocent, then those who make the claims falsely can be exposed for what they are.

Scandal rattles South Africa's elite

2006-11-11T12:30:00.000-08:00

ANC leaders are on the defensive and a police chief denies a bribe. The repercussions of a high-profile murder are reaching ever higher.

There are murders that are somehow symptomatic of their times. That, at least, is true of South Africa, where two murders in particular come to mind.

The first is the killing of Robert Smit and his wife, Jeanne-Cora, in their Pretoria home in 1977.

Smit was an up-and-coming National party politician - a candidate in a pending byelection. It seemed to have been a professional "hit" - the killers shot Mrs Smit at point blank range, waited for her husband to come home, then killed him as well.

The couple had multiple gunshot and stab wounds and the mysterious letters "RAU-TEM" were spray-painted on the wall and refrigerator.

There was much speculation about the motive, most of it centring on rumours of Swiss bank accounts and leading politicians - one name often mentioned was that of the prime minister, John Vorster. Another was Dr Nico Diederichs, the president, popularly known as "Dr Gold".

Even Archbishop Desmond Tutu's Truth And Reconciliation Commission had a go at solving it, but failed to take the story much further.

Now South Africa is agog over the equally sensational Kebble murder.

Brett Kebble has often been compared - even before his death - with the legendary South African "Randlord", Barney Barnato. The comparison may have had some prescience.

The fabulously wealthy mining magnate, who famously started his career with £30 and a box of cigars, died in 1897 when he fell overboard from a ship sailing to England. Whether he was pushed, or fell, has ever since been the subject of debate - the only witness was his nephew, Solly Joel, who inherited his estate.

Kebble's death was on dry land - in Johannesburg to be precise, inside a Mercedes-Benz S 600 in September last year. As with the Smits, it appears to have been a professional "hit". One of a team of three assassins fired seven shots through the driver's window before making a cellphone call - presumably "mission accomplished".

Kebble's biographer, financial journalist Barry Sergeant, describes him as "one of the sharpest confidence tricksters the South African investment community has ever hosted" - which is saying something.

Physically fat, Kebble was also something of a pig where conspicuous consumption was concerned. He was said to have owned about 100 luxury cars - including Mercedes, Jaguars and Ferraris - as well as a Learjet and a Gulfstream. Sergeant describes how once, going through duty-free, he had bought 50 watches.

Almost his only redeeming feature was that he played the piano well - almost up to concert standard, it was said. But even that gift in a way helped conceal something of a scam.

He was well known as a sponsor of the arts, and the annual Kebble art awards, worth about R600,000 (£44,000), were a highlight of the local cultural calendar. But the hurried cancellation of the 2006 ceremony suggested the annual event had little to do with personal generosity on his part.

Kebble's machinations on the world's stock exchanges are bewilderingly complex, confusion having been a favourite weapon in his pursuit of riches. It perhaps suffices to say that at the time of his death he owed billions of rand and faced a tax bill of R250m (£18m).

But his debts are not the only scandal connected with Kebble. He blatantly exploited the country's commitment to black economic empowerment for personal gain and the controversies associated with him are extending ever higher into South Africa's governing elite.

The extent of Kebble's ties with senior figures in the government and the ANC became apparent only at his funeral when black politicians vied to carry his coffin and delivered orations in a send-off worthy of a national hero. They included the likes of leaders of the ANC youth league, Dali Tambo, the son of former ANC president, Oliver Tambo, and Essop Pahad, minister in the presidency.

Pahad, as President Thabo Mbeki's righthand man, put on a particularly bizarre performance at the funeral, telling mourners that "what Brett said to any of us in private should remain private" and attacking the media for what he called "obsessive" speculation, saying Kebble's "democratic right" to be considered innocent until proven guilty was being abused.

In the latest development, South Africa's top law enforcement officer has been dragged into the Kebble saga. The commissioner of police, Jackie Selebi, called an extraordinary press conference on Sunday to deny a report in the Johannesburg Sunday Times that he had been the recipient of a corrupt payment of R50,000 (£3,600) by Kebble's head of security. The payment, among other activities, was said to be the subject of an investigation by the "Scorpions" - the South African counterpart to the FBI.

At the press conference, Selebi denied receiving the payment, saying: "R50,000 is a small amount for me. I would not be so cheap."

Kebble's head of security, Clint Nassif, has been drawn into the scandals surrounding the dead mining magnate. It emerged that he had been responsible for one of several police blunders in the investigation into the killing - arranging to have the Mercedes in which Kebble died cleaned before police had been able to do a forensic examination.

Nassif was arrested last week for an insurance scam in which he is alleged to have had his Mercedes dropped from a forklift in support of a R500,000 (£36,000) claim. Because he was allowed bail although it was known that he was planning to move to the USA, there has been speculation that he has done a deal with the Scorpions by which he will become a state witness.

On present indications the Kebble murder appears much more likely to be solved than the Smit murder.

Crime pays in South AFrica

2006-11-10T00:52:00.000-08:00

As much as we prefer to see crime as a social perversion, with socioeconomic causes and implications, crime is also big business.

And part of the key to solving it is for everyone to see its many faces.

Although overall, criminal offences decreased by 14% between 2002 and 2006, as gleaned from official crime statistics, this belies the unacceptably high level of criminality that persists in South Africa. What is not reflected in the statistics is the callous and often mind-boggling nature of certain types of crimes.

Crimes that have decreased are those where the victims have over the past four years taken measures to protect themselves more. For example, the two crimes with the highest percent reduction over the four years were bank robberies and truck hijacking. While murders went down by 13%, culpable homicide was up by the same percentage.

Information dating back to 2000 indicates that the conviction rate for murders in South Africa is approximately 18%, compared with 61% for England and 56% for the US. Information on arrests, trials and convictions for serious crimes, which is currently scarce, should be reported frequently.

By comparison, the conviction rate for rape in 2000 was 8%, meaning that there is an approximate 92% chance of a rapist getting away with it. For murderers there is approximately an 82% chance of getting away with murder, literally.

For as long as the chances of being arrested, convicted and justly punished are far less than the chances of going free, crime cannot be reduced. Like other business people, criminals assess the risk that is involved in their trade and act accordingly.

Crime is a business. Before they enter into business most people assess factors such as size of the industry, barriers to entry, major competitors, chances of success, payback period and required up-front investment. So it is with crime. Although it would be cynical to suggest that it be isolated as a gross domestic product (GDP) variable and that criminals should pay taxes, crime is a big industry. There are virtually no barriers to entry, as long as one is enterprising, relatively fit and healthy, and the market is so big and diverse that one does not have to worry unduly about competition. This makes the industry attractive as long as one is prepared to take certain risks. For now, the risk factor is very low because the chances of being arrested and convicted are much lower than the chances of success.

Bearing in mind the historical marginalisation of most of the population in South Africa, a lot of criminals virtually have nothing to protect, and are therefore not risk averse. While all these are compelling explanations for the proliferation of crime, the trump card seems to be immediate pay, often in cash and often without much investment up front. Contrast this with the prospect of looking for a conventional job, attending interviews and possibly not succeeding. Or starting a “normal” business, for which a bank will ask for a business plan and collateral, among other things before declining to give you a loan, which would have been under patronising terms anyway. Suddenly the crime industry seems like a good bet as you are in control there and gratification is instant.

Is there corruption in this crime industry? Of course. The operators can buy policemen and security guards and give them kickbacks, as it is unprofitable to give the kickback to victims. Police protection is bought, allowing crime to continue and increase.

Many people, including law-enforcement agents, do not consider this. They hope that crime will die down over time due to broader national reforms. This is unlikely because criminals are business people. They will not disinvest from money-making enterprises. If business is good, as it is currently, they will invest more and spread their wings. Hence the cash-in- transit heists have become more daring and scams ever more complex.

Businesses are investing in technology today and modernising their operations. Crime, too, is getting more complex. What is frightening is that when businesses detect attractive markets wherever they are in the world they go and invest there. Hence the current wave of emerging markets in India, China, South America and Africa. And so it is with crime. Because South Africa is a lucrative destination for the crime industry, we should not be surprised that international crime syndicates are investing more on our shores.

The only sure way of stopping the crime industry is to make sure that the cost of doing crime is higher than the returns. As one cannot deal with this industry through taxes and levies, the only way is to apprehend criminals and bring them to justice.

A business-oriented approach is needed. The complexity of tools and approaches needed to apprehend criminals must be reviewed and as much of a private- sector approach adopted as possible. For example, salary increases and bonuses for police officers could be linked to their success in investigating and arresting criminals. Prison authorities could be assessed and rewarded on their adoption of successful rehabilitation programmes, and so on. It would not be inappropriate for the government to engage a top management consulting firm to help design performance-review mechanisms that can galvanise the justice system into action.

Without such an approach it will take many years to come to grips with the thriving crime industry. The entrepreneurial ability, mental astuteness and evasiveness of the crime tradesman can only be underestimated at all of South Africa’s cost.

Silence on Selebi speaks volumes

2006-11-10T00:48:00.000-08:00

The calamitous indifference from officials within the Safety and Security establishment and, indeed, from the government itself over our reports that the National Police Commissioner, Jackie Selebi, has been placed under surveillance by the elite investigations unit, the Scorpions, is perhaps not surprising.

Worrying, yes. Frightening, definitely. But unsurprising nonetheless — a reaction due perhaps to the growing culture of ineptitude within the SA security establishment; a world not so much shadowy with cloak and dagger stuff as one rendered farcical by the pettiness of the territorial Spy vs Spy squabbling between its various agencies.

However, the Minister of Safety and Security, Charles Nqakula, has hardly bothered himself with a response to the charge that his top cop has become mired in this controversy, thrown up by the continuing investigation into the murder last year of mining magnate Brett Kebble.

Nqakula has not met with his senior officials to discuss the matter. Indeed, it appears he hasn’t even bothered picking up the telephone to chat with them. This at a time of mounting pressure on the SAPS, the Scorpions and Nqakula himself to come clean over the allegations of the investigations into Selebi’s affairs.

For the record, there has been the usual guff from Nqakula’s spokesman and his ministry’s deputy director, Hangwani Mulaudzi. “... as it is now I don’t know where these allegations are coming from”, he has said.

“We don’t want to stress ourselves on issues that don’t have any substance in them. We don’t have any evidence, we don’t have anything that can show us there was such an action.”

However, Selebi is well aware, as we have reported, that at the very heart of this matter is a dossier — one that forms part of a broader investigation by the Scorpions and which details widespread allegations of police corruption — of links between far too many senior police officials and organised-crime syndicates, and of bribes and payoffs — even to Selebi himself.

Much of the allegations therein remain unproven. But some of the dossier’s startling contents are emerging as apparently well rooted in the truth.

There is, for example, the allegation that a state witness in one of SA’s biggest ever drug busts, in July on the East Rand, has claimed the alleged smuggling kingpin is a good friend of Selebi’s.

Then there is the charge that Kebble’s security adviser, Clinton Nassif, was able to recover his murdered boss’s car from the crime scene hours after he was gunned down — and have it thoroughly cleaned.

It beggars belief — as will much of what unfolds in the weeks to come regarding this foul business.

Selebi cleared by Scotland Yard

2006-11-09T03:28:00.000-08:00

The Independent Complaints Directorate, with help from Britain's New Scotland Yard, have cleared national police commissioner Jackie Selebi of allegations he is connected to criminal activity.

The ICD's Tommy Tshabalala said the police watchdog body had concluded two investigations into Selebi and were not probing him further.

Tshabalala, the ICD's programme manager of investigations, said Scotland Yard Detective Superintendent Cliff Lyons had been roped into the Selebi investigation because of his "extensive experience in corruption cases in the United Kingdom".

Lyons was in South Africa to help the ICD establish its anti-corruption unit.

A four-page letter was prepared by Lyons and dated February 15 2005 and sent to Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula by then head of the ICD, advocate Karen McKenzie.

It reports that the ICD had completed its investigation into Selebi and had found that allegations against him "cannot be substantiated" and the matter was closed.

The ICD's findings showed that "allegations of attempts on the life of (former airport security chief Paul) O'Sullivan proved to be inconclusive"; "material provided to the ICD, details of descriptions of vehicles and suspects involved, are lacking"; and the witnesses provided by O'Sullivan "did not progress the evidential part of this investigation".

In a 750-page docket, former Airports Company of SA (Acsa) head of security O'Sullivan alleged that Selebi was the boss of a "cop mafia" and took bribes (including a payment of R50 000).

He said the police commissioner tried to prevent the cancellation of a R130-million security contract at O R Tambo Airport of a firm allegedly linked to Selebi.

O'Sullivan also accused other senior police bosses of being corrupt.

Tshabalala said the main stumbling block in probing O'Sullivan's allegation was his lack of co-operation and a lack of witnesses.

"We cannot proceed until someone can corroborate the information. To date O'Sullivan has not been able to provide the names of the key witness."

O'Sullivan, who was dismissed from his position as Acsa's security chief, claimed Selebi tried to stop him firing the Khuselani company, headed by Noel Ngwenya, in 2001.

He also said Selebi had intimidated him and that there had been attempts on his life.

O'Sullivan claimed that the ICD had "whitewashed the matter" and had not responded to his calls and letters.

"Since it had come to my attention that everything I gave to the ICD was passed on to Selebi, I declined to name certain important witnesses.

"This was to protect those against certain murder, until such time as the ICD could restore my faith in them," O'Sullivan said.

"They did not do this. Quite the opposite - the ICD whitewashed the matter.

"I have passed the witness details to the Scorpions and they are busy with these aspects."

Selebi called a media conference and said: "These hands are clean. I am not involved in any criminality."

He accused O'Sullivan of launching a smear campaign against him.

We're at war

2006-11-09T02:50:00.000-08:00

Crime through armed robbery and hijacking is costing the country R10-billion a year. According to an international risk group, crime-wise we're in the same category as Bolivia and Russia. In fact, we're at war, which we "could lose totally", an expert says.

A worrying report from the international business consultancy Control Risks in which it says about half the world's countries are not sufficiently stable for business to flourish. Government hostility they say is a key inhibitor in many of the 96 out of nearly 200 companies researched and they say political risk is a key factor inhibiting business growth in certain areas.

Now Control Risks says South Africa has got low political risk, which is good news, other countries where political risk is regarded as low, just to give you a comparative, is the United Kingdom for example. So that gives you an idea where we stand in terms of the world's view of our political risk.

But our security risk is rated as medium, fair enough you might say, but it puts us in the same category as places like Russia, El Salvador, and Bolivia. Now hardly the sort of places that you would want to walk around the streets at night and it gives you an idea of how the international community sees the crime risk to South Africa.

It’s a crisis

2006-11-07T09:44:00.000-08:00

JD Group, a mass merchandise entity with eight groups operating in southern Africa, says its internal cost of crime prevention, together with actual costs of crime, rose above the R100m threshold during its financial year to August 31 2006. Group Chairman David Sussman says that the incidence of crime in and around the group has more than doubled in the past five years.

Sussman said, among other alarming things, that the group had suffered 43 armed robberies during the latest financial year. The JD Group operates some of the subcontinent’s best-known stores, including chains such as Joshua Doore, Hi-Fi Corporation, Bradlows, Barnetts, Morkels and Russells.

Sussman said the R100m mentioned excluded ongoing capital expenditure devoted to crime prevention (such as burglar bars), and also excluded debtor fraud. He said that the group had prevented debtor fraud to the tune of R37m during the latest financial year.

Businessmen are increasingly protesting over South Africa’s exploding violent crime economy. On August 25, Mark Lamberti, CEO of Massmart, one of Africa’s largest consumer good distributors, said his company’s statistics – immaculately kept for insurance purposes – indicate that crime in South Africa “right now is about 20% up on last year this time”.

Lamberti said he was talking about “armed robberies, robberies of cash-in-transit, attacks of one sort or another on our staff, people being involved in hijackings and robberies at their homes and so on”.

Massmart monitors crime “very, very accurately and we have world-class statistics in that regard”. Lamberti protested that “quite frankly, the [crime] level right now, despite a number of denials in this regard, is not acceptable. I’ve actually heard it said, ‘Well, this is perception, not reality’. I mean, nothing could be further from the truth and we’ve got statistics to back that up”.

During the same week, safety and security minister Charles Nqakula briefed the Black Business Working Group, and, according to a statement, Nqakula said on the crime situation in South Africa that “crime has been declining steadily since 1994”. On October 13, Nqakula insisted in an article that “crime levels are going down in South Africa”.

Earlier, on September 27, upon the release of crime statistics for the year to March 31 2006, Nqakula was keen to stress that “all eight categories of contact crimes had decreased in the past year”. The murder number fell by 1,3% to 18 545, while rape declined fractionally to just under 55 000. Incidents of robbery with aggravating circumstances declined to just under 120 000 incidents in the latest reporting period, from close to 127 000 incidents.

But the howls of protest are rising. Acting Judge Peter Rowan recently said in the Durban High Court that South Africans were living in fear of crime, and constantly looking over their shoulders. He claimed that the long-term damage and repercussions were jeopardising tourism and the hosting of international events.

Sasol Chairman Pieter Cox last week called for “bold and decisive political intervention” to combat the “ferocity of the criminals in our society”. Writing in the energy giant’s 2006 annual report, Cox, regarded as one of South Africa’s top CEO’s until becoming chairman at Sasol, has voiced what so many other businessmen are pleading for in private.

As the Sasol annual report was released, so former national police commissioner George Fivaz told a Consumer Goods of South Africa conference that “the question in the minds not only of South Africans, but businesspeople, investors and tourists throughout the world is - What are we doing about crime in South Africa - are we winning or will it destroy our democracy, our business and our social lives?"

Fivaz argued that the country’s crime levels are “unacceptably high. Serious violent crime is on the increase and a considerable threat to growth and stability”. Cox similarly identified crime as continuing to be “a major problem that depresses the spirit of South Africans”.

Selebi in hot water

2006-11-07T09:22:00.000-08:00

National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi's public denial of allegations of wrongdoing has done little to appease opposition parties.

Among other things, they called for a commission of inquiry into the allegations and for the dossier detailing the damning claims against him to be made public.

The Democratic Alliance's Dianne Kohler-Barnard said the bad publicity hanging over Selebi's head needed to be resolved urgently.

"If there is any truth to these allegations, then commissioner Selebi is grossly unsuitable to be in his current position and he should be charged as soon as possible.

"He certainly deserves his day in court.

"But at the same time, if there is no real substance to this latest investigation, this has to be established urgently and the appropriate statement should be made by the National Prosecuting Authority."

The Inkatha Freedom Party's Koos van der Merwe said the dossier referred to in the Sunday Times must be made public.

"It looks like a serious matter... that such allegations be put to bed with a denial is not enough."

The leader of the Independent Democrats, Patricia de Lille, said it was time that Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula investigated the claims.

De Lille said it was clear there were tensions between the police and the Scorpions, who were reporting to the same political heads: Nqakula and Minister of Justice Brigitte Mabandla.

African Christian Democratic Party Leader Kenneth Meshoe called for a commission of inquiry, as Selebi's denial might not be enough to clear his name.

Selebi and the cop mafia

2006-11-05T09:48:00.000-08:00

The inner workings of a mafia-style criminal organisation involving senior policemen have been revealed in a damning dossier.

The 144-page document, containing affidavits by witnesses and informers, forms part of a criminal investigation by the Scorpions. It paints a chilling picture of how the syndicate — which is involved in the smuggling of drugs, cigarettes and cigars, human trafficking and the trafficking of stolen car parts, liquor and cellphones, has spread its tentacles into the South African Police Service.

Affidavits in the dossier make reference to National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi; his “friend” and known underworld figure Glen Agliotti described in the document as the “Landlord”; and Clint Nassif, owner of Central National Security Group, a security company employed by mining magnate Brett Kebble.

Nassif was arrested on a R500 000 insurance fraud charge last week.

The dossier also reveals how policemen allegedly tried to thwart the Scorpion investigation through smear campaigns, interception of e- mails and bugging of telephones.

It claims that the syndicate has been in operation for almost a decade and has made millions through closed corporations, foreign and local bank accounts, private security companies, customs officials at OR Tambo Airport, transport companies and policemen. It also contains:

The names of police commissioners and directors;
The names of more than a dozen former and serving policemen who have access to SAPS computer databases; and
How some of them illegally confiscated large shipments of goods from importers they raided and these were later sold.

Two cases currently before court are a direct result of information contained in the dossier. One involves a R250-million hashish and dagga drug bust at a warehouse in Alberton, south of Johannesburg, on July 7. This was the first time it came to light that the Scorpions were investigating the syndicate. The other case is that Of Nassif’s alleged fraud.

Two months after the drug raid the Johannesburg High Court granted a search-and-seizure order for a raid on the homes and premises of 17 people, all named in the dossier. One of them is Agliotti. The others include policemen, past and current, some high ranking.

The court order authorised the Scorpions to seize from their homes:

Any documents showing any communication with the SAPS or “invividuals of the SAPS”; and
Any item that may show a link with SAPS activities, specifically, any document indicating links with police officials mentioned in the application.

“There is reason to suspect that the offences of crimes of corruption, defeating the ends of justice, drug trafficking, fraud, racketeering and money laundering are being committed by those listed,” the warrant read.

Although many of the allegations in the dossier have not been tested, an alarming claim is made about a R50 000 payment to Selebi, elected as president of Interpol in 2004.

Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula has responded to this by challenging those with evidence against Selebi to come forward. His spokesman, Trevor Bloem, said: “The same old tired allegations and innuendos are being made ...”

A witness claims in the dossier he was asked to deliver an envelope, containing R50000 in cash, to Nassif at a Sandton café and found Nassif sitting with Selebi. He says Nassif later bragged about having paid a senior policeman and of “having him in his pocket”.

An e-mail in the dossier tells how, two weeks after the Alberton drug bust, Selebi’s deputy, Commissioner Andre Pruis, met in a room at the Michelangelo hotel in Sandton a person whose name is known to the Sunday Times and showed that person highlighted sections of a document in which there were claims that Nassif had paid Selebi.

At this meeting Pruis allegedly said Selebi was out of the “country at the time”.

He said he was aware the notes did not give a date for the meeting , but added: “No the notes don’t show that, I know when Jackie Selebi met with Clint Nassif and Glen Agliotti and I can categorically state that Selebi did not receive anything.

Yesterday, when asked about this meeting, Pruis said: “Ag nee, why do you want me to tell you that ... if you have the dossier, for sure you will know about the meeting and what the meeting was about. I’m not prepared to tell you about meetings I have with people.”

When sked about the dossier, Pruis said:“I’ve seen mention being made about the dossier ... but I’ve never seen the dossier.”

The witness who was present at the Sandton cafe when the envelope was allegedly handed over claims that a few weeks after the payment a “big pile” of firearm-licence applications from a security company were dropped off at police headquarters. The papers were handed to a man called “Wessels”. Wessels Jenner is Selebi’s driver who, as the Sunday Times reported last week, caught a Scorpions team conducting a surveilance operation in Selebi’s neighbourhood.

Asked to comment on the Scorpions probe, Selebi yesterday said: “Let them investigate whatever they want to investigate, I’m not interested in commenting.”

In another affidavit, a police reservist relates an incident involving Selebi and Agliotti. The police captain said he was called out to attend to a robbery in Sandton in August or September last year. While at the home of the complainant, a man walked in and “tapped” him on the shoulder, saying the commissioner wanted to talk to him. Surprised, the captain identified himself to the caller, whose voice he recognized, as being Selebi.

“He asked me to brief him on what transpired, which I did. He then said, I must look after these people, as ‘He’s a good friend of mine’. After the call with Selebi, I had a further chat with this man, who I now know as Glen Agliotti and he advised me that, firstly he was a good friend of Selebi and secondly that, they had shared breakfast together that same morning. He then handed me a business card, which I kept."

No military help for cash guards

2006-11-03T12:26:00.000-08:00

The military will not be used to help cash-in-transit teams but the government and business will work together to battle the heists, said Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula.

"There are other ways which this particular problem can be attended to and we discussed them today. And they do not include the deployment of the army," Nqakula told a press briefing after a top-level meeting between business and government in Johannesburg.

Nqakula said the SA National Defence Force had a supportive role, not a frontal role.

"When you say they must protect guards who are transporting cash, you are actually taking them to the front."

"There are other ways which this particular problem can be attended to and we discussed them today. And they do not include the deployment of the army."

Nqakula said the issues to be addressed were improving the vehicles used to carry cash, and training and equipping the security guards.

"We must address the matter of the vehicles that are used to carry cash -- in other words, we are looking here at a better mode of transport."

A nation in jail

2006-11-03T12:15:00.000-08:00

The scale of South Africa’s crime problem has become almost unimaginable.

South Africa is technically a war zone. Each day, in round figures, 150 rapes (of adults and children) and 350 armed robberies serve as curtain raisers to 50 murders. It gets worse. In March, the Democratic Alliance, the official opposition, released details of how 85 808 children fell victim to violent crimes in 2005, a 45% increase on the previous year. Each day, 62 cases of child rape are reported.

But doubts will remain over the authenticity of figures until the Department of Safety and Security (DOSS) lifts its moratorium on crime statistics. The heated debate over secret crime statistics recently saw national police commissioner Jackie Selebi trying to distinguish between “a crime statistic and an operational success”. Selebi had been accused of selective use of information.

Safety and Security minister Charles Nqakula set himself several targets in Government's Programme of Action for 2006, not least a heavy reduction of “contact crimes”. According to anecdotal evidence, violent crime activity has instead exploded. Some people are being popped for their mobile telephones; in one killing, the mobile telephone was also popped, rendering the murder truly worthless.

Mbeki’s plan to combat crime must reach far beyond violent crime, into the equally unimaginably huge swamp of exploding white-collar crime. The recently published PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) global economic crime survey, based on interviews with 3 634 senior executives in companies across 34 nations contained only depressing news about South Africa.

No less than 83% of companies and entities surveyed in South Africa were victims of economic crime in the past two years, in comparison with 45% globally. The 83% outcome for South Africa reflected an increase of 12% on the 2003 survey results, against an 8% average increase globally.

In the public sector, South Africa vomits out one catastrophe after another. This week Auditor-General (AG) Shauket Fakie tabled a report on provincial finances, with the key finding that no less than 13 departments (in eight provinces) were “worst performing”. If that sounds like gobbledegook, these 13 departments were responsible for R55bn (29%) of total provincial expenditure in 2004-05. Of the 13 departments, nine were awarded “disclaimer audit opinions”, meaning “a fundamental lack of documentation to the extent that an audit opinion cannot be expressed”.

If this sounds dry and arcane, consider that this is the formal framework for looting and plunder. In practice, hardly a day goes by without wholesale white-collar crime sticking its ugly head into the gravy trough. This week, it was confirmed that 1 728 public servants who had stolen millions of rands from the social grant system would not be prosecuted. There’s more: the 1 728 crooks will not be fined, will not pay interest, and have up to 32 years to repay stolen monies.

To take other random examples, note that nobody can find evidence of a competitive tender process for the R60m contract awarded by the Department of Arts and Culture to Access Africa Holdings for organising logistical support for South Africa’s participation at the recent Sommerkoln Festival in Germany. Then there is the Department of Correctional Services, which has confirmed that it extended, without tender as required by law, by R82m a contract with the Bosasa Group.

Then consider recent news that the director-general (DG) of Home Affairs, Jeff Maqetuka, is to be overseen by the Public Service Commission’s DG, Odette Ramsingh, for the next three months. The DG is the relevant department’s accounting officer and thus subject to the draconian Public Finance Management Act. Last year, the AG declined to give Home Affairs “clean” accounts for the fourth consecutive year. The AG established that R572m worth of expenditure could not be audited due to lack of supporting documentation.

Within the overall nightmare, there is no end of individuals jockeying for position. If Mbeki is serious about tackling crime, he must immediately release the final report of the Khampepe Commission. One of the most sinister ideas in the nation is that the Scorpions, which fall under the NPA (a division of the Department of Justice) should be absorbed into the South African Police Services, which falls under DOSS. This is exactly the idea that Khampepe examined.

There is little question that Khampepe’s findings detail salacious items of the turf wars waging within cabinet and the top brass of the ANC. But these are other worrying factors; consider the recent drugs bust in Alberton, near Johannesburg, when around R200m of hashish and cannabis was seized.

Several arrests were made but the kingpin of the syndicate (which transported drugs via Swaziland prior to re-shipment to Canada and then Holland) is yet to be arrested, or even identified. The point to ponder is that the Scorpions and not the police made the arrests.

Mbeki also needs to clarify South Africa’s policy over illicit drugs, which play an increasingly important role in the economy. According to the latest UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report, South Africa and its neighbours comprise one of the world’s biggest growers and exporters of cannabis. The drug is rated as the third biggest export earner for Lesotho; Swaziland exports cannabis to the UK, US, Netherlands, and Japan. In 2004, the Republic of Ireland reported that 99% of the cannabis consumed in their country originated from South Africa.

It’s time to catch a bit of a wake up. How can a country that’s technically a war zone, with rampant violent crime, plus exploding white collar crime, plus a thriving narco-economy claim to own the “greatest” constitution in the world?

Nqakula's extension call lambasted

2006-11-03T06:48:00.000-08:00

South Africa's two biggest opposition parties are sceptical of Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula's proposal to lengthen the 48-hour period before an arrested suspect has to appear in court.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) said it was outrageous for Nqakula to call for the constitutionally enshrined detention period to be extended because police did not have enough time to formulate charges.

"The Constitution should under no circumstances be meddled with to compensate for the chronic non-performance of a government department," DA safety and security spokesperson Dianne Kohler-Barnard said in a statement.

It harked back to the dark days of the apartheid era, and, given the minister's own history of being detained, it was ironic he now wanted new powers requiring constitutional amendments.

Kohler-Barnard said the police's inability to press charges against suspects had nothing to do with the 48-hour period, but a lot to do with both Nqakula and national police commissioner Jackie Selebi's "poor leadership".

The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) said an extension of the 48-hour period was unwarranted.

"The IFP does not believe that an extension to the 48-hour detention period will improve the current situation in the fight against crime," IFP safety and security spokesperson Velaphi Ndlovu said in a statement.

The IFP has always been of the view diligent and progressive policing began with the selection of good staff.

Nqakula should focus his attention on improving the personnel crisis within the South African Police Service, as well as making all necessary resources available to speedily employ and retain the correct calibre of police officer, he said.

Changing laws?

2006-11-02T05:08:00.000-08:00

The Constitution guarantees the right to appear in court within 48 hours for anyone arrested for allegedly committing a crime. But that could change if Charles Nqakula, the safety and security minister, has his way.

Appearing before Parliament's safety and security committee, Nqakula said 48 hours is too short a time for his boys in blue to tighten up their cases.

The Constitution says people arrested on suspicion of committing a crime must appear before a court of law within 48 hours, but Nqakula does not think that is long enough. This after Nqakula spent R38 million on litigation in the past financial year.

Nqakula says he has appointed some lawyers to look into the whole issue of litigation in the police so that they know exactly what is happening, as well as investigate the possibility of the need to relook some of the laws.

Analysts do not agree that the 48 hour window should be extended. Boyane Tshehla, of the Institute for Security Studies says the minister will be setting a very dangerous precedence.

The conspicuous absence of Jackie Selebi, the police commissioner, at the meeting did not amuse the committee. Makhotso Sotyu, a committee chairperson, said she felt undermined as Selebi always appears to be avoiding the committee, and whether Nqakula was aware that Selebi is being probed by the Scorpions.

Forensic labs staff shortage crisis

2006-11-02T05:03:00.000-08:00

Inadequate training and the mass exodus of skilled staff have plunged police and health department forensic laboratories into a "national crisis".

According to David Klatzow, a private consultant for forensics, the quality of staff is so poor that chemical laboratories get through only 10 percent of their monthly caseloads, while national forensic laboratories are struggling with backlogs of at least 400 cases a month.

"We are facing a national crisis, with police Commissioner Jackie Selebi and his political mates destroying national assets. We are at a point of no return and I call for a proper and independent commission of inquiry into this."

In response to questions by DA MP Dianne Kohler-Barnard, the Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula said earlier in October that there was a backlog of only 7 737 cases across all forensic laboratory sections.

Kohler-Barnard said Cape Town's forensic laboratory had a staggering 15 000 cases on its books. It can take up to 10 months to have samples analysed.

Although Nqakula has conceded that "issues such as training, the filling of vacancies and acquiring and installing of new equipment" were to blame for the backlogs, the 77 vacant posts had not been filled.

He said posts were not being filled and, without staff, new equipment that would speed up forensic testing was not being used.

"The backlogs are creeping up to such an extent that it is impeding the functioning of the court."

Klatzow said he based his views on testimony of senior officials working in laboratories around the country.

He said black graduates were being "poached" by outside industries that paid better, while those involved in the training of recruits often lacked the qualifications required.

"The level of competence is such that not a single forensic test should be passed without first being checked."

Inappropriate appointments and promotions, had led to a "total breakdown of morale", said Klatzow.

Niels Viljoen, former director of the Pretoria forensic science laboratory, said he had been "so fed up" with the collapse of the forensic laboratories that he had opted for early retirement in 2004.

He said he lost four qualified analysts within a couple of months during 1999, but then struggled for two years to fill their posts.

Concerned about the apparent lack of skills, Viljoen compiled his own scientific test for his staff. But the team scored less than 3 percent on the basic test.

Three people had scored more than 70 percent, but were told that they did not comply with employment equity requirements and could therefore not be appointed.

Kohler-Barnard said a workforce profile leaked to the DA earlier in September said that 22 members of the Pretoria laboratory had resigned in the preceding three months.

Viljoen warned that, given the shocking lack of theoretical knowledge of most forensic staff, courts should not trust the results of forensic tests.

Selebi must go

2006-11-01T07:57:00.001-08:00

SA’s national police commissioner Jackie Selebi must resign his post as the country’s top cop. If he fails to do so — which given his recalcitrant manner he surely will — President Thabo Mbeki must show the leadership, political will and courage to remove him from his job.

As South Africans count the costs of pervasive violent crime, it is apparent Selebi lacks the vision, skill and leadership required to wage a relentless war against crime.

As criminals become more emboldened by the day, so too does Selebi’s intransigence with regard to rumours that he has links with unsavoury characters linked to the criminal underworld.

What exactly does one make of the report that Selebi was allegedly on the take and had close links to shady characters who inhabit the netherworld of organised crime in SA? Given intersecurity agency rivalry, one has to ask if Selebi may just be the latest victim of a plot to smear him and, ultimately, oust him from his job.

Given the penchant for smear politics, which has come to characterise the bloody turf war between the South African Police Service and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), one can hardly rule out such a possibility.

Only a few weeks ago senior Scorpion operatives were arrested by the police service on charges relating to a host of wrongdoings.

So far, Selebi has only threatened to expose those he claims are intent on smearing his name. Yet no one has yet been identified as besmirching the good name of the commissioner.

The reasons Selebi should go are clear. First, how does a national police commissioner become embroiled in, and be the subject of, an investigation by the NPA into alleged links to shady criminals, slain mining magnate Brett Kebble and the mafia?

Second, the silence from Selebi’s political masters following the report was both odd and worrying. Whatever the respective merits of each side in the interagency fracas, it does not detract from the fact that the commissioner’s ability to lead the fight against crime has been compromised by the allegations.

How does SA’s political leadership prove to citizens their commitment to combating rampant and violent crime engulfing cities and homes, when Selebi himself is under investigation for his links to suspected criminals? With stony silence. All too often silence and denial characterise the way in which government accounts to its citizens on issues relating to crime, HIV/AIDS and other maladies afflicting the South African condition. SA citizens have become too accustomed to this denialism and obfuscation as our leaders refuse to answer questions that relate to our wellbeing.

Selebi must be axed if there is to be any hope of restoring the battered image of the police service, which is routinely outgunned and outnumbered by ruthless criminals. In the midst of a crime wave, it is sad that it has emerged SA’s top policeman is the target of a probe by none other than the elite crime-fighting unit, the Scorpions.

The explanation from NPA spin doctor Makhosini Nkosi — that the unit does not comment on investigations — did not wash when the Sunday Times newspaper splashed on its front page a report confirming that the Scorpions were handed a “secret dossier” listing Selebi’s alleged links to illegal activities conducted by Kebble, as well as to alleged mafia boss Glenn Agliotti, who has been fingered as having links with a drug- and cigarette-smuggling syndicate.

The dossier contains claims that Selebi received a generous R50000 monthly payment from Clinton Nassif, Kebble’s security adviser.

At this stage, please spare a thought for the Kebble family, as it is Selebi, as the head of the police service, who is tasked with finding Kebble’s killer or killers. How does our government expect them, or any other South Africans, to have faith in the police service when the country’s top police officer is the subject of a probe by a law-enforcement agency?

Not even Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula could muster a credible explanation when it was revealed that Selebi was the subject of an investigation by the Scorpions. Not a peep from Mbeki’s office either.

This bizarre silence comes amid a flurry of high-level talks between government and business leaders in the last few weeks to formulate a strategy to beat crime. These are the same talks that Selebi did not pitch for.

Clearly, our police commissioner had more important things to do than to meet with senior government officials and moneyed individuals who are concerned about the violence being visited on our citizens.

Selebi must go

2006-11-01T07:57:00.000-08:00

No clarity on Selebi

2006-11-01T07:11:00.000-08:00

Charles Nqakula, South Africa’s controversial Minister of Safety and Security, has not met or even phoned his crime fighting bosses to get to the bottom of allegations that his top cop is being investigated by the elite crime fighting unit, the Scorpions.

This comes at a time when pressure is mounting on the South African Police Service (SAPS), the Scorpions and Nqakula to tell the public if National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi is being investigated.

The two law enforcement agencies still refuse to comment on reports that a group of Scorpions investigators conducted a surveillance operation on Selebi.

The operation was apparently carried out as a result of the Scorpions investigation into the business dealings of the late Brett Kebble, who was gunned down in his vehicle in September last year.

Selebi’s name has been linked to that of Glenn Agliotti, who was a former business associate of Kebble and apparently himself the subject of an investigation.

Stop sex officer roll-out

2006-10-31T01:00:00.000-08:00

Child rights advocacy organisations and the Democratic Alliance (DA) are calling for a halt to the pilot roll-out of family violence, child abuse and sexual offences officers to Gauteng police stations until problems have been ironed out.

Gauteng is the first province to see these special unit officers transferred to police stations as part of a bid to strengthen police stations and transfer skills.

Joan van Niekerk, head of Childline, said that the process so far had been “haphazard, unplanned and without consultation”.

“If Gauteng cannot get it right, then the other provinces are really going to battle,” she said.

The concerns of rights groups were confirmed in a survey of the 36 cluster police stations in the province released yesterday. The study found that 11 police stations did not have any officers, and out of the 25 that did, 19 did not have crime kits to take DNA samples and 18 did not have telephones or were sharing lines with other officers.

There was also no private area to interview victims, many of whom were minors. In fact, in some stations officers had no desk at all.

The three-day survey was conducted by DA MP Mike Waters and involved visits to all the clusters and interviews with 80 officers in Gauteng. In Mamelodi East, Waters said he found officers sitting in a parade room and 10 officers shared a hut with two desks.

In Tembisa, an officer had converted a storeroom into an office, so he could interview victims in private. Stations with no specialised officers were Sandton, Randburg, Benoni, Sunnyside, Bronkhorstspruit, Brooklyn, Heidelburg, Kempton Park, Lyttelton and Vosloorus.

Waters also found there was no correlation between the allocation of resources and the level of reported crimes at clusters. The best resourced were Hillbrow, Johannesburg Central and Sophiatown, but they did not have the highest crime rates. Moroka, which tied for first place with Meadowlands for the highest social crime rate, had the second-lowest resource allocation.

Police spokesman Selby Bokaba said that a review was being done of the stations’ resources and about 80 officers were being trained for stations that had no special unit officers. He said, however, that most of the police stations were under-resourced. “Its not just those dealing with sexual abuse that are under-resourced; many policemen share telephones and vehicles.”

People have simply had enough

2006-10-30T10:54:00.000-08:00

A church leader has said that if the president and members of the government ignore public anger about violent crime they could be making a grave mistake.

Bishop Ivan Abrahams, the presiding bishop of the Methodist Church, said he had been surprised by the depth of public unhappiness which had emerged in recent days as he talked to people and organisations about the church-led initiative to form a national crime-fighting alliance, along the lines of the National Peace Accord of the 1990s.

"There is clearly a powerful fire burning out there, and we are the people who can help the government, help the president, to keep it from becoming a wild fire," said Abrahams.

He said this after church leaders had finished their second meeting in 10 days aimed at putting together their new alliance with the government, business and trade unions.

The church leaders have requested, via the Rev Frank Chikane, Director-General of the Presidency, an urgent meeting with President Thabo Mbeki so they can ask him to take the lead in the new alliance.

"We had hoped for a response by (Friday)," said Abrahams, "which we have not yet received, but I am sure it will be forthcoming soon. In the meantime, we are continuing to work at getting our strategies and plans in order."

Abrahams said the intent of the church leaders, representing 24 major Christian denominations and organisations, and who first gathered 10 days ago in Kempton Park at a meeting convened by Dr Coenie Burger of the Dutch Reformed Church, was "extremely serious".

"There's an enormous amount of energy among many, many people - they want to do something about stamping out violent crime.

"People have simply had enough," said Abrahams, who is chairman of the group.

"One does not want to be alarmist, but one hears suggestions about civil disobedience campaigns, in the shape of not paying taxes, or that maybe we should be giving thought to considering a boycott of (the) 2010 (soccer World Cup).

"Yes, some people might consider that, the 2010 boycott idea, an almost treasonable suggestion. My point is that people want the government, the president, to demonstrate the same political will and commitment to eradicating violent crime as the government shows towards hosting the soccer World Cup.

"My point is too that we are hearing some very serious things out there."

Abrahams said talk about boycotting 2010 was an example of the anti-crime fire burning among people and said, "We are the people who can keep that fire at bay" - harnessing it to go in the right direction, provided the government also came to the party.

He said the church leaders remained "very optimistic" that there would be a commitment from all the players: civil society (including the church and trade unions), business and the government.

Abrahams stressed, however, that the church leaders were not trying to "take over".

"It is the government's responsibility to deal with crime. But we are saying that we can help."

A representative of "civil society", who has been assisting the church leaders in their deliberations and facilitating their discussions with business and others, but who did not wish to be named "because this is the initiative of the church leaders", said he thought that in the end there would have to be a "tripartite" group set up to eradicate crime.

"It's still early days, but I believe that is where we must go, and we need to go there quickly but carefully, as the church leaders know.

"It would be dangerous to raise expectations that cannot be met. It would be a worse situation than the one we have now if we promised but could not deliver."

During their meeting 10 days ago, church leaders said they feared that violent crime was threatening to unravel the gains of democracy, just as political violence had in the early 1990s threatened to destroy constitutional negotiations.

It was for this reason that they started considering revisiting the National Peace Accord, which had successfully been launched to stem political violence.

Time to clean out Augean stables at SAPS

2006-10-27T10:34:00.000-07:00

Prompted by mounting public outrage against crime, some police official the other day was yet again promising “zero tolerance from now on”. In the US, this had a precise meaning.

In SA it is merely a slogan provoking one to ask what the previous policy was. Ten percent tolerance? Thirty percent tolerance? Higher tolerance for rape than for gun-running?

Deservedly, the outrage is directed not only against criminals but also against the people we pay to protect us from them. Police bosses and politicians have been caught off balance, their complacency has been exposed, and they have failed to convince the public that they are not clueless in the face of crisis.

It is therefore time to appoint a commission of enquiry into policing in SA. Often governments establish such commissions merely to kick tricky matters into touch. This one would have to be serious, headed by a single no-nonsense person with powers of subpoena, open to the public, and given six months to report. Members of the police force, present and past, should be encouraged to testify, with all necessary protection against victimisation by their superiors. The Augean stables need to be cleaned out.

Some of what is wrong is obvious. But it is oozing out in dribs and drabs. One report had Safety and Security minister Charles Nqakula stating that the South African Police Service (SAPS) had spent nine years concentrating on transformation from militaristic to civilian. We all know the reasons. But what about the consequences? How many lives have been lost? Heists are carried out as military operations. Can a supposedly civilian service deal with them? What about command structures? Somebody has to give the orders. How much power do these people have? What are the penalties for disobedience?

Other questions abound. Some are prompted by reports that policemen with expertise in solving crimes will be brought back into the service. So let the commission hear how many such people were lost to the service, and what terms are on offer to bring them back. Are we talking mentoring, or real jobs with prospects of promotion on merit? Or will everything be subject to racial and gender quotas?

Many of SA’s criminals possess not only ice-cold blood but also managerial competence, technical expertise, and entrepreneurial flair. No “capacity constraints” here. Does the SAPS have a plan to deal with its own “capacity constraints”, whether in basic education, forensic skills, detective work, or intelligence gathering? Let the commission hear the detail.

The national police spokesman, Selby Bokaba, recently said, “We will be flooding the streets with policemen. The public will see more bobbies on the beat patrolling their neighbourhoods. They will no longer be driving around — they will actually walk the streets.” Does anybody believe him? Does he believe himself? What do the prospective bobbies on the beat think about his plans for them? How will they be protected from being picked off by gangsters with stolen guns driving around in stolen cars?

The other day I went to the Parkview police station to get a document certified. One officer did the rubber stamping, another did the signing. Nearly 6000 serious crimes are committed every day and we assign able-bodied policemen to wield rubber stamps! Another time I went to pay a traffic fine. Why do we use policemen to write out receipts? Are they scared to go out on the streets?

Let us hear some answers from the men and women themselves.

Corruption is widespread in the SAPS but the service must also contain many dedicated people of all races who are ashamed of this. A commission is an opportunity for them to talk. Many of them are no doubt utterly demoralised and crying out for some decent leadership instead of all the bluster, blunder and bluff to which we are all now routinely subjected.

FinWeek reports that a group of business leaders described as “turnaround gurus” are going to “change-manage” the criminal justice system. No doubt they will supply plenty of expertise.

But that is not the same as leadership, which no outsider can supply. Wars cannot be won without logistics and managers, without factories and spying, but crucially they cannot be won without commanders at all levels with the ability and the authority to lead, discipline and motivate their charges.

DA offices trashed by ANC youths

2006-10-27T10:23:00.000-07:00

The DA offices in Khayelitsha were trashed, allegedly by ANC youths protesting against Mayor Helen Zille's pro-democracy march.

Vandals smashed the office windows, broke the door and threw garbage around the entrance of the offices, located in the Desmond Tutu Recreation Centre in Makhaza.

Councillors suspect that the damage was caused while more than a thousand DA members and supporters gathered at the provincial legislature building in protest against the ANC's proposed changes to the system of local governance in the city.

Local Government and Housing MEC Richard Dyantyi's wants to change the existing mayoral committee system to an executive committee system.

Business owner Richard Dani said he had witnessed the incident and believed ANC supporters were behind the vandalism.

Dani said the vandals were part of a group of about 100 people toyi-toying near the offices in protest against Zille's march.

He noticed the group were "singing ANC songs".

"There were about 15 of them throwing stones at the offices.

"They were all young, maybe 16 to 18 years old.

"At first, they were toyi-toying with the rest of the group, but then they started throwing stones at the offices," he said.

Nothing was stolen but inside and outside the offices were strewn with litter and broken glass.

DA councillor Masizole Mnqasela, chairperson of the DA constituency in Langa and Khayelitsha, said the vandalism was an act of bitterness "because the ANC cannot accept we won the municipal election and that the DA has reached black communities".

"There were no administrators at the offices at the time of the attack because everyone was attending the march.

"Their (the ANC's) intention is to scare anyone associated with the DA and reduce our concerted efforts to challenge them," said Mnqasela.

He said ANC supporters considered the DA "a party for whites" and did not want DA offices in predominantly black communities.

"They want us to buckle under the pressure and push us out of the area.

"They want to create the idea that these are no-go areas for the DA, but this is a party for all people.

"The ANC is bitter that we are gaining more support among black people," he said.

ANC provincial secretary Mcebisi Skwatsha said he had not heard of the incident but said he did "not condone that sort of action" from ANC supporters.

"The DA is on a fishing expedition."

"They also accused the ANC of playing a part in organising the taxi march and now they accuse us when they get their offices ransacked," said Skwatsha.

He said the problem was not in their hands but that the DA should make a statement to the police and report the incident.

Cops arrested for robbery

2006-10-27T10:19:00.000-07:00

Two policemen were arrested in Durban for holding up a woman in her home and robbing her of R800 at gunpoint.

Police spokesperson Inspector Thulani Mkhize said the men arrived at the woman's Claremont house saying they were policemen. She refused to open the door at first, believing that they impersonating policemen.

When they produced a firearm she relented.

As they drove away after the robbery a relative noted the number plate on the car, which was the police officer's personal vehicle.

Mkhize said that the two constables had worked together with a civilian. They are expected to appear in the Wentworth magistrate's court.

Suspected rapists castrated and stoned to death

2006-10-27T09:58:00.000-07:00

Two suspected rapists were pulled from police vans, castrated, beaten and stoned to death in the Durban township of kwaMashu.

The victims were thought to have been part of a gang of rapists who terrorised kwaMashu, attacking 12 families in a single street.

After the frenzied attack, residents seemed jubilant, laughing and casually pointing to where the dead lay.

They said they had had enough, having been plagued and tormented by the serial rapists, who were also infamous in Inanda and Ntuzuma townships.

"We couldn't sleep any more," said a woman who stopped going to work as she feared walking in the streets at night.

On Wednesday night, police responded to a call about the gang and searched for the suspects, believed to be residents of kwaMashu.

They found two members of a group of six and arrested them.

Community members then recognised the pair and grabbed them from the police vehicles.

"Even when we fired several shots in the air, the angry crowd did not stop," police said.

Police officers driving the vehicles were slightly injured.

No arrests had been made, but the police were investigating a case of public violence and malicious injury to property.

Flying squad in late-night porn fiasco

2006-10-25T07:37:00.000-07:00

The African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) called for a commission of inquiry into Bloemfontein's flying squad, allegedly caught watching a pornographic movie while telephones rang unanswered.

Free State ACDP leader Casper Nordier said far too many media reports showed problems at Bloemfontein's flying squad.

"These include telephones not being answered, or no response if answered.

"There are also allegations of racism and also that the members do not know where certain suburbs are located," he said.

Nordier said he has written to Free State MEC for safety and security Playfair Morule in this regard.

"If the negative reports are inaccurate, this will be reflected in the proposed commission's findings," said Nordier, who pointed out that there were also positive media reports.

The ACDP was reacting to media reports on Wednesday in which an ANC member of the National Council of Provinces, Neels van Rooyen, accused the flying squad of not answering their telephones while watching a movie on e-tv on Saturday night.

Van Rooyen told the Volksblad that nobody at the flying squad answered his daughter's phone calls on Saturday night when she phoned about robbers trying to break into her house in Wilgehof.

Van Rooyen said his wife also phoned the flying squad unsuccessfully.

"I eventually at 2am went to the flying squad's offices at the back of the premier's house.

"Flying squad vehicles stood outside and I could walk through the office building without somebody stopping me," Van Rooyen was quoted as saying.

"Inside three policemen sat in front of computers while phones were ringing."

Van Rooyen confronted the officers who allegedly denied any unanswered calls.

He also saw that the television was on one of those "late night pornographic programmes on e-tv".

Public suing cops for billions

2006-10-25T07:34:00.000-07:00

The police service has been hit with civil claims totalling R5.3bn - which is equal to one-quarter of its annual salary bill.

The amount included R253m in claims for shooting incidents, R1.67m for alleged police assaults and R1.9bn for undisclosed "police actions".

Another R2.9bn was linked to "other (unallocated)" claims.

The figures are given in the annexures to the annual financial statements of the Department of Safety and Security for the year ended March 31 2006.

According to the police's financial statements, vehicle accident claims amounted to R67m, damage to property R36m and damage to state property R4.5m.

Moses Dlamini, spokesperson for the watchdog Independent Complaints Directorate, admitted that the organisation had been swamped with more than 5 000 cases of alleged misconduct against the police.

These included complaints involving 621 deaths in custody.

So far police had paid out R38m in settlement of claims lodged against the service.

An offer you can't refuse

2006-10-24T23:26:00.000-07:00

WHEN the Economist's Africa editor, Richard Cockett, launched the magazine's 2006 South Africa survey earlier this year, he commented that one of the things that had surprised and en-couraged him about SA was the degree to which business and government formed partnerships in areas such as education and crime-fighting -- partnerships that would be unusual in developed countries such as the UK.

The partnership approach is about to be put to the test as business and government move to give effect to their new "step change" agreement on fighting crime. Business wants to help, and is offering the time and skills of some very high-level people, as well as any operational help government needs to deal with the crime wave. The question is whether government is able, and willing, to take advantage of the offer.

Business' involvement may be relatively unusual but a recent paper by Harvard criminal justice professor Christopher Stone suggests there are sound economic reasons for it. The paper, one of those commissioned by the national treasury to evaluate the accelerated and shared growth programme (Asgi-SA), argues crime does constrain economic growth, because of the direct costs it imposes on business and because the perception of violent crime may deter investment and skills. Not that it was the economic costs alone that prompted the big business working group to raise the crime issue at its August meeting with president Thabo Mbeki. Rather, the group tried to convey that there was a crisis affecting the national mood, with an impact on everyone, rich and poor, black and white.

What prompted big business' intervention, too, was the sense that the original partnership established through Business Against Crime was no longer working. That was partly because crime had slid down businesses' priority lists, and was not getting the calibre of participation it once had. But it was also because Business Against Crime wasn't getting the time of day from government. It had been trying, since January, to get a meeting with the justice cluster on the increase in cash-in-transit heists and aggravated robberies -- but without success. Which is one reason why, eventually, big business went to the president. It was Mbeki, insiders say, who leaned on a somewhat reluctant police minister to acknowledge the crime "spike" and buy into the business initiative.

The August meeting led to the meeting earlier this month between business and the ministers and directors-general of the six justice cluster departments (police, justice, prisons, social welfare, intelligence and defence). A leadership forum that includes all those players and is co-chaired by Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula and Stan-dard Bank chairman Derek Cooper will now meet every two months and will report every quarter. Details of the agreement are to be thrashed out at a two-day bosberaad this weekend -- a meeting that could define whether this partnership will fly or not.

Business has made it clear that it is government, not business, that has the mandate, authority and responsibility to combat crime, says Michael Spicer of Business Leadership (the former SA Foundation), which is driving the business initiative.

What business does have are complementary skills that could be valuable to government if it's agreed on "step change". In particular, business can offer the skills of senior executives in managing change in large organisations -- "senior" being of the calibre of FirstRand's Laurie Dippenaar, Massmart's Mark Lamberti and Sanlam's Roy Andersen (former CE of Liberty), who are the three offering ser-ious time and energy to the initiative.

Though government has put more money into law enforcement, and will no doubt increase the sums further in this week's mini-budget, more money on its own is not the solution to a crime problem many argue reflects poor leadership rather than a poverty of resources. Business leaders in the forum were shocked at the "ham- fisted" way the South African Police Service implemented its recent, radical restructuring. Staff were informed by circular, with no attempt from the top to manage the change process. Whatever the merits (or otherwise) of the restructuring, no properly managed business would do it that way. Nor would the executives of large listed companies treat crises in their companies with the apparent indifference that's tended to characterise government's response to crime.

Business is also keen to see the departments within the crime and justice cluster overcome the "silo" mentality, so that trends can be picked up and acted on more effectively. Business Against Crime had already helped to put an IT system in place to bring together information from the police, courts, prisons and probation officers -- but it isn't being used and staff have not been trained to use it. That's the sort of operational effort that the business initiative is willing to engage in. And at least some senior officials are keen to take advantage of corporate skills in gathering and analysing information, given that organised crimes such as cash-in-transit heists and robberies can be tackled only with good detective work.

But to make use of business' skills and resources, officials have to know what they want, which takes work. And they have to buy in to the partnership idea. One problem is surely going to be that the areas where business expertise is on offer (and is most needed) are those likely to elicit the most defensive responses. Getting these departments to co-operate is no easy matter. And any advice on "change managing" the police may face even tougher resistance.

Specifically, there is the problem of national police commissioner Jackie Selebi, who, it is understood, was the only top official who did not attend the business/government meeting this month, for reasons that have not been explained. At this stage, there is only partial buy-in to the leadership forum -- SA's president and deputy president and the relevant ministers have embraced the idea, as have certain of the officials. But not all, and without Selebi only limited progress can be made. Trouble is, Selebi doesn't appear to believe there is a crisis. But even if there isn't, if big business believes there is one, and is offering its skills and resources, it would be irresponsible not to take advantage of the opportunity.

Children are raping other children

2006-10-24T09:40:00.000-07:00

Eighty-two children are charged in courts across the country every day for raping or indecently assaulting other children. Processing by the state of child-committed sexual offences has nearly doubled in the past year.

Police, prosecutors, social workers and child rights activists estimate that between 25 percent and 43 percent of the perpetrators of sex and violent crimes against children are children themselves - some as young as six.

Approaching school holidays - which are peak periods for child-committed offences - now threaten to increase the 130 059 child sex offenders processed by the state between 1999 and March this year. Of these, 146 have been sentenced to prison terms and 161 are awaiting trial.

In the last three months, three pupils have been stabbed to death by fellow pupils in three separate incidents in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, and an 18-month-old toddler has been brutally assaulted by two 11-year-old boys in Mabopane.

The problem has become so bad that several state-supported rehabilitation organisations have - in the absence of any concrete laws to deal with children accused of crime - recently launched diversion programmes aimed specifically at child sex offenders.

And, if ground-breaking research by a Gauteng academic and child abuse counsellor is to be believed, a "huge" proportion of these children claim their sexual abuse of other children was inspired by acts they witnessed on television.

There are seven reports from angry parents who were turned away from police stations in KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and Gauteng when they tried to lay sexual abuse charges on behalf of their children against other children.

"I was told these are children; we can't do anything," a woman from KwaZulu-Natal said. She claims her seven-year-old daughter was forced to perform oral sex on three boys aged between nine and 11.

She said she had decided to move to her mother's home in the Western Cape to shield her daughter from further abuse.

Senior Superintendent Anneke Pienaar, national co-ordinator of the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit, denied that police could not do anything to address sexual abuse claims made by children against other children.

She said police were given specific instructions on how to process all reports of child-perpetrated crime and had to accept such charges.

But Pienaar admitted police had noticed a "definite increase" in the number of sexual abuse allegations made against children. And, she said, the alleged perpetrators of this abuse were "getting younger and younger".

Studies in KwaZulu-Natal last year showed that a staggering 90 percent of all male child sex offenders between the ages of 13 and 18 had been exposed to pornography and "believed that this had an impact on the development of their abusive behaviour".

Shaheda Omar, therapeutic manager at the Teddy Bear Clinic in Johannesburg, has interviewed 100 child sex offenders and their mothers "from across the social spectrum" for her doctoral research project.

"What surprised me was that most of these children had not been sexually abused themselves, although they may have witnessed sexual or physical abuse. What united them was the influence of media on their behaviour," she said.

While some children claimed they wanted to emulate love scenes in soap operas like The Bold And The Beautiful, others admitted they had been inspired by late-night pornography on e.tv.

Soweto Protea Court prosecutors Nadine Nel and Louise Smit confirmed both Childline's research and Omar's preliminary findings.

"Usually, when you first ask a child why they did certain sexual things to another child, they shrug their soldiers and say they don't know. But later they will tell you they saw things on The Bold And The Beautiful and they wanted to try it," said Smit.

She said that, following the 2001 airing of the infamous Yizo Yizo prison rape scene, the Soweto Protea Court was hit with a spate of "little boys indecently assaulting other little boys".

The child victims of sexual abuse by other children were usually "much younger" than their abusers, Nel and Smit said, with some victims as young as two. This made it very difficult for prosecutors to discover exactly what had happened, because the child did not have the ability to describe his or her abuse and medical evidence was usually inconclusive.

Childline director Joan van Niekerk believes cases of sexual abuse by children are dramatically under-reported. "We know police seldom open such dockets, so it is difficult to quantify the extent of the problem," she said. "Police at station level prefer to tell the parents it is a 'domestic matter' which must be sorted out at home."

A worrying security risk

2006-10-24T09:00:00.000-07:00

The Durban Metro Police have been given about two months to tighten firearm and ammunition controls, act against criminal elements within the force and take other corrective action.

The directive has come from the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD) which investigated the Durban Metro Police Service after reports raised concerns about missing firearms earlier in 2006.

One of the most disturbing issues in a report released by the ICD was its discovery of dangerous military weapons on Metro Police premises.

Apparently the official in control of this assortment of army ammunition and firearms equipment is facing criminal prosecution for firearms-related offences.

Those responsible would be dealt with in terms of criminal and disciplinary investigations.

Among other things, the ICD found:

No inspections of members' firearms have been conducted by section heads prior to shift duties and also no inspection of ammunition stores;

A total lack of supervision at the Metro Police firearm workshop which posed "a worrying security risk";

No registry is kept on how many reloads are made in the ammunition store;

A total lack of control regarding access to ammunition stores and reloading of machines;

Keys to ammunition stores are in the possession of all officials, which is seen "as a huge security risk";

Some members were using private firearms for official duties, which was in direct contrast to standing orders governing the service. This was described as a "dangerous" situation; and

No explanation for the presence of R1 magazines and .45 pistol ammunition which was not used by DMPS.

ICD National Head Tommy Tshabalala said 128 cases had been opened for firearms belonging to the Metro Police but not in their possession. Of these, 66 firearms were missing or stolen and the balance were either in the possession of the SAPS or ICD and forming part of ballistic investigations.

There were 16 firearms which appeared on the Central Firearm Registry list but were not found on the Metro Police computerised firearms list.

The city had conducted its own audit of missing firearms and submitted it to the ICD.

"When they submitted their audit we checked it and found they did not have any records of their firearms that we had, so we decided to conduct our own investigation," he said.

The ICD report said huge challenges had been encountered during the investigation. However, it was pleased to have reached 97 percent of members, who had in the main co-operated.

Tshabalala said the city had conducted its own audit of the remaining three percent and had found there were three firearms which could not be accounted for.

"The two officers implicated had been suspended and the other missing firearm was used in a domestic violence incident," he said.

The ICD visited police stations across eThekwini.

In the northern region it found that Metro Police staff did not have sufficient ammunition for their firearms.

In Verulam there were 1 000 pieces of ammunition for different calibre weapons kept in a safe which could not be used for police duties.

In the southern districts ICD officials found no evidence of recording keeping of ammunition. The report said that this was a problem in the whole service.

With regard to ammunition stores, the ICD found 3 000 R1 rifle bullets in sealed boxes and 3 900 .45 pistol bullets, none of which are used by the Metro Police.

The ICD report has made an appeal to the Metro Police's management to take appropriate steps against its own members who have contravened policies and regulations of the Metro Police and the Firearms Control Act.

Poor self-image fuels crime spree

2006-10-20T06:02:00.000-07:00

Lack of self-esteem among South African citizens could be contributing to the high levels of violent crime, according to David Bruce, researcher for the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation.

Bruce said the 10-year-old national crime prevention strategy needed to be revisited to include issues such as low self- esteem and concerns about status if the country hoped to bring down violent crime.

He said the question that had to be asked was whether there were other factors, perhaps not recognised by the crime strategy, which contributed to violence.

“International literature consistently links violence to low self-esteem and fragile self-concepts. Aggression is associated with a type of insecure and easily threatened, inflated self-image, which is underpinned by anxiety about one’s worth or status.

“Any disagreement or criticism, or even a perceived lack of consideration, may be experienced as undermining or threatening to one’s self-image, provoking aggression.”

Bruce believes many people feel excluded and diminished by their social position.

Analysis of 9623 police dockets by the Crime Information Analysis Centre in 2005-06 found that 81,5% of all murder victims knew their killers and, in rape cases, 76% of the rapists were known to the victim.

While the National Crime Victim Survey found that 20% of victims of assault thought that the assault was due to long-term personal anger, 12% accounted for jealousy or romantic motives and 12% for anger towards the friends or family of the victims.

“While people are now included culturally, for instance through mass television, and politically, through a democratic system, they continue to be excluded structurally, through poverty and economic insecurity,” he said.

This was likely to lead to insecurity about status, which could cause people to lash out, especially at those closest to them. Bruce said government would need to concentrate on creating self-worth to tackle SA’s high incidence of violent crime.

National Commissioner

2006-10-20T03:54:00.000-07:00

To read through the annual report of the South African Police Service is to know that police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi does work. But to what end? South Africans feel no safer and we are in the middle of a crime spike. It seems he achieved success at reducing contact crimes and hijacking and then took his foot off the pedal.

He does not pay sufficient attention to the vital work of detective skill and forensic investigation, crucial areas if we are to beat crime in a sustainable way. And we never hear from Selebi unless there is a crisis and then it's usually only to deny said crisis. He has an uneasy relationship with his Minister, Charles Nqakula, which make the two a less than an inspiring team on a beat where engendering confidence is crucial.

In addition, it's of no small concern that Selebi is friends with Glen Agliotti, the man at the centre of a massive Scorpions investigation into organised crime. This year's annual report shows Selebi has been successful at attracting new bobbies to his beat but our assessment is that it's time for a change of guard.

Police have a secret plan

2006-10-19T23:12:00.000-07:00

In recent weeks, cash-in-transit robbers have shocked South Africans with their brutality.

Last month, three security guards were burnt to death in their cash van in Limpopo and then last week, 15-month-old Khensani Mitileni was shot and killed while she was still strapped to her mother's back during a heist in Bree Street in the Johannesburg CBD.

Police statistics released recently by Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula revealed that cash-in-transit heists are up 74 percent from last year. And in the wake of the brutal killings, security guards operating in the cash-in-transit industry have threatened to go on strike.

National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi, along with other top cops, met unions representing the security guards. The meeting touched on regulating the industry, setting up minimum security standards and getting the companies to improve the safety of their vehicles, among other things.

Dennis George, of the union Fedusa, said they were happy with what the commissioner had to tell them.

"The police have a good plan to combat these gangs and we are standing behind them on this one," he said.

Selebi told the unions that the police have been battling for years to get the industry to beef up their vehicles: many of the minibuses they use are not designed to transport cash.

Selebi and his team gave the unions insight into their plan - which must remain secret to the general public - to combat heists.

While police have drawn up a plan to deal with these heists, researchers have warned that the police face a tough task in cracking these highly organised gangs.

"Many of these guys are ex-military men and some have even been active policemen," said Johan Burger, a senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies.

"These guys don't just decide one day that want to do this and they go. They have reconnaissance exercises where they monitor the cash vans for weeks and when they do strike, every last detail from the time to the place where it will happen has been accounted for. They don't see a cash heist as a job, but as a military operation," he explained.

While the planning for a heist can take more than two weeks of planning, the heist itself lasts no more than eight minutes.

"They know exactly when the first police car or back-up security van will arrive and if they are not done (taking the money) within maybe five or six minutes, they are known to actually abandon the job," Burger said.

Jenni Irish-Qhobosheane, author of Gentlemen or Villains, Thugs or Heroes, said that the gangs are run like a well-organised corporation.

She based the book about cash-in-transit gangs on research gathered during interviews with gang members in prison.

The average heist, she said, costs about R30 000 and after every successful heist, money is put aside for the next one.

"Their intelligence is so well gathered, they know exactly which guard will put up a fight and which one will offer no resistance at all. They have people whose task is to drive, they have marksmen in certain spots and even lookouts. Every aspect of the heist is looked at in great detail," she said.

The future is rosy

2006-10-18T07:32:00.000-07:00

Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula insisted that crime is decreasing, but acknowledged citizens' concerns this was not so.

Responding in the National Assembly to a statement by the Freedom Front Plus's Corne Mulder about crime levels, Nqakula said the criminal justice system ministers still believed the law enforcement agencies "are going to be able to deal with the crime that is happening in South Africa".

"Of course, we do accept that many, many South Africans are worried about the levels of crime. But, I believe that indeed, with law enforcement agencies working in the way that they are at this time, not alone, but together with the masses of our people who have now, rather than what the situation was in the past, come forward to say [they] want to be part and parcel of crime fighting in South Africa, that gives me the hope that things are going to change in the future."

While acknowledging that the families of crime victims found it difficult to believe crime was dropping, it was not correct to say crime levels in South Africa were rising. "They are going down," Nqakula said.

"The other thing that makes me believe that the future is going to be better, is the fact that apart from all these people who are coming forward, including business people who are prepared to walk this road together with us, is that the police themselves are getting better training. And those human resources are better deployed. We have also adopted high technology to deal with some of the problems that we have."

"I also believe that the future will be better because the entire criminal justice system is in itself undergoing changes. There's a review of the system," Nqakula said.

In a member's statement earlier, Mulder called on government to actively intervene and prepare and implement a new national anti-crime strategy encompassing the whole criminal justice system.

He said that according to the latest police statistics -- for April 1 2003 to March 31 2006 -- 2 546 294 people were victims of violent crime.

That means that on average 848 765 people fall victim to violent crime annually.

Yet, Nqakula was saying "the future is rosy concerning crime in South Africa."

These statistics proved that South Africa was a dangerous country to live in.

The public felt unsafe because people were robbed in their houses and hijacked when they had to drive, and criminals caught by police sometimes got off scot-free because of shortcomings in the courts, Mulder said.

Police corruption and misconduct must be rooted out

2006-10-18T07:20:00.000-07:00

The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) has called for more jurisdiction and resources for the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD) to root out police corruption and misconduct.

"The IFP urges the Minister of Safety and Security, as well as the (police) Commissioner, to provide resources and personnel to the ICD - as well as to broaden their mandate - so that the scourge of police corruption and misconduct can be rooted out," the party's safety and security spokesperson Velaphi Ndlovu said.

He said the IFP was appalled at recent reports of 22 rape charges against policemen.

"What is even more concerning is the fact that the ICD has not recorded any rape convictions of police officers and that it is suspected that some police officers are covering up for their colleagues," Ndlovu said.

He questioned whether a reported 12% decrease in ICD complaints was due to a drop in cop crime or the public's lack of faith in the ICD.

Staff shortages, a high staff turnover, training opportunities, accessibility to the ICD, and the directorate's relationship with the South African Police Service were some of the challenges facing the ICD, he said.

Only 54,6% of 3 716 misconduct-related complaints had been investigated and the rest monitored, he said.

"It is a question of staff shortages that compounds the problem. Five investigators have left the ICD and not one has been replaced."

Ndlovu said expansion of the ICD's jurisdiction could only work if staff shortages and other challenges were addressed.

Where is Mbeki?

2006-10-16T02:03:00.000-07:00

HOW long will we have to wait for President Thabo Mbeki to appear on television and tell the men responsible for the death of 15-month-old Khensani Mitileni and others like them that he and his government, with the undoubted backing of millions of our citizens, declare war on violent criminals?

When will he and his ineffectual security ministers unveil a workable plan to round up such people, prosecute them competently and speedily, jail them and make sure they stay put in prison?

Where was Mbeki after heist criminals brazenly attacked a cash-in-transit van, took the money from it and then, without provocation, cruelly set it alight, killing all four guards trapped inside?

Or after an armed gang opened fire on the police, turning Jeppestown into a warzone and killing four policemen? Or after a 14-year-old schoolboy fatally stabbed a schoolmate and went on the run for days from the authorities? Or after hijackers took a man's car, shot him in the head, and then drove over him for good measure? Or after armed robbers tortured and killed the four-year-old granddaughter of one of the country's top judges? Where was the leader of the republic after these acts of terror were committed?

In fact, where is President Thabo Mbeki generally? And how long will this country live with and tolerate what amounts to a refusal to lead from the man who, through the grace of its citizens, occupies its highest office?

This week's gun battle in downtown Johannesburg, which led to the death of baby Khensani and the injury of seven other innocent bystanders, must surely be the last straw even for a country that has become inured to the impact of daily violence. The incident has shocked the nation, but has been met with cold, arrogant silence from the nation's leaders.

Not a single expression of outrage. Not a word of condolence to the mother whose child died violently on her back, where a child is meant to be safest. No rebuke for those responsible. No words of comfort for a city left shocked and confused by the madness unfolding in its streets.

It's as if Mbeki and his cabinet have retired to an underground bunker, unwilling -- maybe even afraid -- to rear their heads, lest they be the next victims of the war unleashed on the rest of us. Where are our elected leaders?

Mbeki, Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula, Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla, Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour, Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils, Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota and Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula all seem to be too busy elsewhere to be concerned with securing the lives of millions of citizens who have no other place to turn to but their government.

For his part, Mbeki has featured in public recently only when he is attacking his political enemies in the tripartite alliance. What manner of leader reaches the conclusion that his allies' criticisms "amount to serious provocation", but has absolutely nothing to say on the seditious slaughter of innocents by gangs who respect neither law nor life?

Rainbow Nation ends in a pool of blood

2006-10-16T01:56:00.000-07:00

While South Africa has bathed in the accolade of the Rainbow Nation since the end of apartheid in 1994, a torrent of commentators and swathes of the general public now say that the rainbow’s end has been reached and the nation is sliding back into the storm.

Just this month , Nobel Peace Prize winner archbishop Desmond Tutu said the country had lost its “moral compass and reverence for life”.

He said: “Is it not horrendous for an adult man to rape a nine-month-old baby? [a reference to the country’s plague of baby rape in the belief that sex with infants cures Aids] What has come over us?”

South Africa now ranks alongside Colombia, Chechnya and the occupied Palestinian Territories as among the most violent places on earth. In a new report, the South African Institute of Race Relations said that one million whites have left the country in the past decade.

This is partly because of the escalating violence, but also because they see no future in a country once proclaimed as “non-racist” but which has implemented a damaging raft of reverse-racist policies with similarities to those adopted by past white governments. Most of those quitting are highly skilled people such as doctors, nurses and engineers and young people born too late to have ever voted in the apartheid era.

More whites began packing their bags for Europe, North America and Australasia when justice minister Charles Nqakula, responding to a question about the scores of daily murders and hundreds of daily rapes, told parliament that those who complained about crime were “unpatriotic moaners”. He went on: “They can continue to whinge until they’re blue in the face or they can simply leave this country.”

The justice minister’s implication was that only whites “whinged” about the rampant violence. But most of those raped, mugged and killed are black people . One woman, who had been gang-raped and mugged by fellow blacks, and who lives in a paralysis of fear in her township, wrote to a newspaper asking: “Where, honourable minister, do you suggest I go?”

And last week it was too late for 15-month-old Khensani Miteleni to consider going anywhere – she and her mother were caught in one of the near-daily wild west-style gunfights that make Johannesburg’s city centre resemble a war zone.

Eight black gunmen attacked three black security guards making a cash pick-up from a black-owned shop. In the subsequent shoot-out, five black pedestrians were severely wounded and Khensani Miteleni, wrapped in a blanket on her mother’s back, had her head shattered by a bullet from an AK-47. She was buried in Soweto on Friday.

Violence is just one element of the developing South African crisis: A vicious succession battle for supremacy is underway inside the ruling African National Congress; thousands of people die of Aids each week and thousands more become infected while president Thabo Mbeki and his health minister, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, deny there is any link between the HIV virus and Aids and the rand has collapsed faster than any other currency this year amid fears that former vice-president Jacob Zuma, who narrowly escaped conviction for rape and is currently on trial for fraud and corruption, will become the next president.

As South Africa slid off the rainbow, one leading newspaper columnist warned: “We have all been lulled into a sense of false security over the past 12 years. We look north to Zimbabwe with pitying eyes and tell ourselves it couldn’t happen here.

“Well, my friends, the seeds have been sown. Just wait for the harvest.”

Too many people, too few things

2006-10-15T10:18:00.000-07:00

In J M Coetzee’s Booker Prize-winning novel, Disgrace, which is set in a violent post-apartheid South Africa, the protagonist David Lurie speaks of a new kind of deprivation in that country. “It’s a risk to own anything: a car, a pair of shoes, a packet of cigarettes... Too many people, too few things.” Nothing sums up the appalling contrasts of South Africa today better than these lines from Coetzee. In this shiny, new democracy everything is up for grabs and no one is safe.

No wonder that the travel advisory to the delegation accompanying Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to South Africa recently said: “Do not venture out of your hotel premises alone; try to be in a group always and avoid walks/jogging on your own please.” It did not stop there. We were asked not to keep windows in our car open more than three inches. Even our rooms in five star hotels were not considered safe. We were required to lock up cash, valuables and laptops in the room safes. Ironically, the Indian delegation was visiting the country to participate in the Centenary Celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violent resistance, Satyagraha, which was launched there, and which President Thabo Mbeki proudly calls South Africa’s gift to humanity.

The contrast between the idyllic land and its violence prone social structure could not be more acute. Why is a tourist or a slightly affluent-looking person not safe on the streets of beautiful South Africa? Mugging is as commonplace as AIDS. Criminals do not hesitate to pull out a gun or scare you with syringe full of blood for a few rands. They tell you that the syringe has blood of an AIDS victim and unless you part with your valuables quickly, you will get a prick.

Improbable as the story may sound, it actually happens. And what is more shocking, the stage for this need not be a secluded corner of any city or the red-light areas. Such acts are committed in broad daylight in crowded areas with frightening regularity. Even the locals live in a palpable atmosphere of fear and observe safety precautions while on roads and at home too.

Move to any up market residential area and all the houses have high boundary walls with electrical wire fencing and electronically operated gates. Every house has a warning — “Armed Response” — written outside.

It is a pity that these spectacular houses look like fortresses from outside. This is particularly disturbing in a land where the Mahatma launched his pacifism.

High prevalence of crime and violence is a major worry for the South African government. The negative publicity deters many from venturing to the country either as tourists or investors and the loser is obviously the local economy.

Despite its head start over other African nations in terms of infrastructure and democracy, South Africa’s crime statistics remain shocking. Women and children are the most vulnerable targets. Sixty four children and 86 women get raped in this country every day, according to the national crime statistics released recently by South African Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula. Many dismiss the figures as too low as they believe that many rape victims are turned away at police stations because there is pressure on the police to report less rape cases. Only one in nine crimes against women and children is actually reported, according to the Sunday Times.

Worse still, a large number of crimes remain unsolved and the families of the victims wait endlessly for justice. Similarly, in a large number of cases suspects are let off the hook because police bungle the investigation or there is a wait for forensic formalities to be completed. Threats to victims’ families not to press the charges is common too.
The alarming drop in the law and order is essentially a post 1994 phenomenon. With democracy, the floodgates were opened for illegal migrations from other African countries like Nigeria, Sudan and Malawi.

Given the high rate of unemployment and the huge disparity between the rich and the poor, the influx made the crime scene worse as the majority of new entrants took short cuts to survive. Crime and drugs became common place. While the country takes pride in its cosmopolitan fabric, the government’s lack of initiative to curb crime has already cost South Africa dearly. The law and order situation is precarious. Segregation is alive here not between the races but between the classes.

Wealth is still concentrated mostly with a handful of whites. The country has a volatile, explosive past, with deep-seated sectarian differences. Unless the ruling ANC takes a strong grip on crime and violence, things may spin out of control and South Africa may go the way of its neighbours.

Sheriff battling to subpoena MPs

2006-10-15T09:24:00.000-07:00

The sheriff of Cape Town is drowning in a sea of unserved subpoenas and summons for MPs and government officials at parliament. And, judging from the large number of debt-related demands, many officials and MPs in turn, are battling to keep their heads above water.

The sheriff, Hennie Hurter, said: "There are a stack of these things, but we battle to get to serve them."

The papers piling up in the sheriff's office - between 20 and 30 a month - relate to matters ranging from garnishee orders for deductions from salaries to maintenance claims and unpaid debts.

The targets of the sheriff's unwelcome attentions include Chief Whip Mbulelo Goniwe, whom Hurter has unsuccessfully tried to subpoena for a maintenance hearing in the Eastern Cape. But Goniwe and the others are shielded by parliamentary privilege.

The sheriff, whose offices are a stone's throw from parliament, has to have permission from the presiding officers to serve papers within the parliamentary precincts.

Each week Hurter's office sends letters to parliament's legal advisers with copies of the documents they intend serving to get permission to enter. "Sometime we get a yes - especially if it is a garnishee order aimed at an employer who must make deductions from someone's salary. Aside from Goniwe, we've mostly had co-operation from Parliament this year on maintenance related matters. But on the other matters we often are either ignored or refused.

According to many, a large number of MPs and officials struggle to make it through the month on their salaries. This situation is often compounded by their having to do constituency work and those new to the lifestyle falling into a debt-trap.

It has been alleged that National Assembly speaker Baleka Mbete has been blocking the sheriff's attempts to subpoena Goniwe for a maintenance hearing. Goniwe said he refused to comment on a "private, family matter", but the issue is to be raised in parliament by the DA next week.

This is a massive problem and it’s on the rise

2006-10-15T09:19:00.000-07:00

THE use of heroin is sweeping across age, race and class boundaries in South Africa. Drug experts have uncovered a massive increase in the availability of cheap heroin mixes — sold under the names “nyaope” in Pretoria, “sugars” in Durban, “unga” in Cape Town, and “pinch” in Mpumalanga.

Use of the drug — which gives an intense and potentially lethal high — has doubled and, in some parts of the country, increased sevenfold in just three years.

“Heroin has shown, on a national level, probably the worst increase we’ve seen of all drugs in the past three years,” said Andreas Plüddeman, of the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Unit at the Medical Research Council. “It used to be a white, middle-class drug, but it has moved into areas not previously affected.”

Molefe Pule, also with the MRC, said a study in the Pretoria suburbs of Sunnyside, Arcadia and Mamelodi last year revealed that “nyaope” — a mix of finely milled dagga and heroin — was popular with sex workers and drug users from poor backgrounds. “They smoke the mixture in a bottleneck, scraping the residue off the bottle and mixing it with the next hit. This makes it stronger,” he said.

Impure forms of heroin are now available for as little as R15 a quarter gram. Gauteng, Mpumalanga and Cape Town rank as the hardest-hit areas in the country.

“This is a massive problem and it’s on the rise,” said psychiatrist Lize Weich. “Heroin is now used in anything from smart mansions to shacks.” Weich heads the first state-operated specialised heroin detoxification unit in South Africa, which opened at Stikland Hospital, Cape Town, in July.

According to the latest research by the South African Community Epidemiology Network on Drug Use, which monitors drug and alcohol abuse trends at 60 treatment centres in six sites around the country, the statistics for the first six months of the year show a significant increase in heroin abuse around the country.

The worst affected ages were 18 to 25 years old, with an alarming number of teenagers using the drug, which is smuggled into the country, mainly from Asia. 1069 heroin-related cases were recorded last year and more than a thousand suspects arrested.

This is borne out by the increase in seizures at our ports of entry, especially Johannesburg International Airport, where a total of 214 couriers were arrested, some trafficking in small quantities of heroin, which were contained in condoms and swallowed by drug mules.

The UN’s Office on Drugs and Crime blames the heroin boom on South Africa’s suitability as a conduit between Asian drug suppliers and Western consumers.

“Because of weak law-enforcement capabilities, Africa in general is being more and more targeted by drug traffickers,” said Thomas Zeindl Cronin, deputy representative at the unit.

High traffic in people and goods at South African airports and ports also makes the country ideal for smuggling drugs.

Call up the army

2006-10-15T09:13:00.000-07:00

DESPERATE cash-in-transit guards are appealing to the government to deploy heavily armed SANDF troops to protect them as they enter the festive season, which is notorious for an escalation in violent gang robberies.

They are to meet national Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi — in the wake of two more cash-heist attacks that cost another guard his life.

The guard was killed and another was wounded in a heist in Durban; in a separate incident, a gang of 16 made off with an undisclosed sum following a robbery in Johannesburg.

Earlier this week, a cash-in-transit heist in central Johannesburg claimed the youngest victim of the scourge, 15-month-old Khensani Mitileni, who was shot dead on Tuesday while strapped to her mother’s back.

At a meeting scheduled for 10am in Tshwane, the Federation of Unions of South Africa (Fedusa) — which has more than 500000 members — and its affiliate, the 5000-strong Motor Transport Workers’ Union (MTWU), will tell Selebi that their members are powerless against the brazen gangs that kill with impunity.

They want Selebi to agree to bring in the military to protect guards and the public when money is moved in cities, shopping centres and malls.

They will tell Selebi it is “suicidal” to send guards armed with 9mm pistols to defend cash against criminals armed with AK-47s. And they will tell him that security guards are unable to perform their jobs because they fear being shot dead or burnt alive.

Armed troops were last seen on South Africa’s streets in the dying days of apartheid when the National Party government was battling to keep a lid on township violence. The South African government is known to be cautious about deploying troops to do police work as this would militarise society and create a siege psychosis.

Emily Fourie, general secretary of the MTWU, said yesterday that the call was backed by South Africa’s top cash-management companies, Fidelity, SBV and Coin Security, who move billions of rands countrywide.

Wahl Bartmann, chief executive of Fidelity Springbok Security Services, said the government needed to be more involved in fighting cash-in-transit heists. He supported the call for the army to be brought in.

“These people will do anything for money,” he said — and the army would be better equipped to fight off cash-in-transit gangs, who were often former military people.

He said guards were outnumbered and outgunned by well-organised gangs who travelled in groups of more than 10 and carried automatic weapons.

Fourie said the death of Baby Khensani this week was the final straw.

As the picture of her body lying in a street made front pages around the country, cash-in-transit guards were threatening a national strike.

Such action would have plunged the country into a crisis as billions of rands would not have been banked or moved.

But the strike was averted late, following talks between Fedusa, MTWU and Fidelity, Coin Security and SBV.

Fourie said security guards had to bear the brunt of the murder and mayhem.

“They are so traumatised. If they are lucky enough to survive a heist, they are then put on a lie-detector to find out if they were involved.

“If they hand the money over, they are asked why they gave in so easily ... They cannot win.”

Grant Dunnington is chief executive of SBV, which last month had to deal with the gruesome deaths of three of its guards, who were burnt to death after a gang doused their van with petrol and set it alight in a heist in Limpopo.

He said: “Any additional support would be welcomed. It is up to the police to ask for the military to assist if they cannot provide the support.

“We support Emily Fourie in terms of what she needs, and we asked her if she wanted us to go with her to the police commissioner, but she wanted to go on her own,” he said.

According to the latest crime statistics cash-in-transit heists have surged by 74% in the past year.

Scorpions get stung

2006-10-14T08:10:00.000-07:00

Geoffrey Ledwaba, 41, and Ayanda Dlodlo, 43, once top figures at the Scorpions, handed themselves over to police stationed in the elite Serious Economic Offences Unit (SEOU) in Pretoria. The two accused appeared later in the day in the Pretoria Special Commercial Crimes Court on charges of theft, fraud and corruption.

Ledwaba was granted bail of R100 000 and Dlodlo bail of R50 000. Ledwaba had been former head of operations at the Scorpions, formally the directorate of special operations (DSO), a division of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). He resigned during 2005 after the criminal investigation was launched. Dlodlo had previously been head of strategic and investigative support at the Scorpions. She resigned in 2004 to rejoin the Gauteng provincial government in a senior position at the department of safety and liaison.

NPA spokesperson Makhosini Nkosi was quoted as saying that NPA national director Vusi Pikoli had requested the investigation against Ledwaba and Dlodlo after allegations of improper conduct were levelled against Ledwaba.

The NPA, which has long branded its Scorpions unit as an elite agency specialising in combating white-collar crime, falls under the justice department, and reports ultimately to justice minister Brigitte Mabandla. The SEOU, like all other police, report to Charles Nqakula, the minister of safety and security.

There have been instances of competitive behaviour involving the Scorpions and the SEOU, but the case involving Ledwaba and Dlodlo may have broken new ground.

The charges against the two relate to monies previously earmarked for informers of the Scorpions, and also operational monies. The total amount involved in the case, which covers numerous incidents, is around R1,5m. The investigation into the activities of Ledwaba and Dlodlo was conducted over a period of thirteen months. Investigations are continuing.

Nkosi was quoted as saying that Pikoli thanked the police for “the professional manner in which they conducted the investigation. He also thanks the management of the DSO for the full cooperation that they gave to the police during their investigation”.

In contrast to the apparent relief of the NPA in the arrest of Ledwaba and Dlodlo, the Scorpions could hardly be restrained in arresting one of their own two weeks ago. Senior Scorpions advocate Portia Kgantsi is still behind bars, awaiting her bail application. She was arrested on charges of bribery, corruption, extortion and defeating the ends of justice, and may face more charges including contravention of the Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act.

Criminals exploiting freedom

2006-10-13T13:43:00.000-07:00

More words of wisdom from the man who advised people to stop whinging or leave the country. It is because we are so free that we have so much crime.

Criminals were exploiting South Africa’s liberation for their own gain and therefore the battle to curb crime needs full community participation, like the liberation struggle, Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula said.

“Our liberation, as the case has been in other parts of the world, created spaces that have been exploited by wrongdoers,” he said in an article on the ANC website. Freedom of movement had allowed criminals into the country. They committed crimes across the provinces.

Many of those crimes were committed while under the influence of drugs or alcohol. “In the communities! where we live we know who sells the liquor and the drugs. We know that those substances are sold to our children who become addicted to them. And we keep quiet," the minister added.

Even the guards are scared

2006-10-13T03:14:00.000-07:00

Johan Burger, a researcher at the Institute for Security Studies, says the government has the responsibility to ensure that security guards of cash-in-transit vehicles are protected.

The Motor Transport Worker's Union representing the security guards said it wanted Charles Nqakula, the safety and security minister, to look into the problem of fly-by-night cash-in-transit companies. They union says they are jeopardising the lives of guards from legitimate companies. The union has threatened to strike next week in response to the recent spate of violent cash-in-transit heists.

Burger says the government should do more to combat crime. "The guards themselves are certainly entitled also, like everyone else, to better protection. In the first instance the protection should come from the companies that employ them, and secondly of course, as part of the over all effort by government to deal with crime in this country more effectively. Government should create conditions that make is safe for everybody else," Burger added.

He says a strike by the security guards would have a huge negative effect on business and the country's economy at large. He says what should happen is that there should be consultations between government and the security industry and even business and there is an urgent need to discuss the problems that concern the security guards.

Bring back the commandos

2006-10-13T03:03:00.000-07:00

Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula has been urged to re-introduce the commando system in rural areas to bring down crime before the 2010 Soccer World Cup.

The Democratic Alliance's leader in the national council of provinces, Watty Watson, said that the DA agreed with recent warnings by police that Mpumalanga would experience an increase in violent attacks and cash-in-transit heists.

On October 9, a Barberton woman was shot in the chest by burglars, a farm worker was killed on a farm near Malelane the next day and, three days later, a child was held hostage on a farm near Mashishing, formerly Lydenburg, while her parents were robbed.

Watson said: "These horrible incidents prove the disbanding of the rural commandos was not thoroughly reviewed. This leaves all farmers and farm workers defenceless and easy targets for criminals. We have constantly warned that the phasing-out of rural commandos will leave a dangerous vacuum in the safety network of all rural areas."

Commandos were established in 1715 to protect farmers and consisted of part-time law enforcers. In 2004, President Thabo Mbeki announced a programme to phase them out by 2009.

Commando members were trained by the army and provided with camouflage uniforms, radios, and R-4 rifles, which were now being returned to the state.

Lies, damn lies and statistics

2006-10-13T02:49:00.000-07:00

OSCAR Wilde wrote: “Even things that are true can be proved.” The implication is, of course, that people try hardest to prove things that are not true.

Consider the lobbies in our society that campaign against abortion, environmental degradation, smoking and gun ownership. They use, and indeed abuse, statistics in order to prove their points.

Late last month Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula and his national commissioner, Jackie Selebi, did their annual Indian rope trick to prove to the nation that crime is not as bad as we thought. And shortly the National Council of Provinces will put the final seal on the Firearms Control Amendment Bill, which instead of changing the focus to illegal guns continues its insane concentration on legal ones.

During debate on the bill in the National Assembly, African National Congress (ANC) MP Annelize van Wyk waved a front-page story from a Cape newspaper which claimed that deaths through firearms had been substantially reduced. The story used statistics from a submission by Sebastian van As, a doctor at the Red Cross Children’s Hospital, and comments from antigun lobbyist Adele Kirsten. In pursuit of journalistic ethics not a single alternative voice was aired in the story.

Van As submitted a graph which showed that firearms were the greatest cause of “nonnatural” death in SA. While there is no question that too many people are killed with guns in SA, what the compiler of the graph had done to prove his or her point was to subdivide the deaths from car accidents into four different categories — motor-vehicle accidents (MVA) pedestrians, MVA passenger, MVA driver and MVA “uns” (whatever that is). There was no such subdivision with regard to gun deaths — simply because the graph would then not have been able to show a long black column towering over the rest, since the combined deaths in motor vehicles would have matched the gun deaths, robbing the statistics of their drama.

Astonishingly, both Van As and Kirsten claimed that there had been reductions in gun deaths and these could be directly related to the implementation of the Firearms Control Act. Now the act was only fully implemented in July 2004 and all the graphs indicating reductions in violent deaths were based on records between 2001 and 2004. Odd indeed.

Even stranger was a graph that indicated that gunshot admissions to hospital had indeed gone down prior to 2004, but that in 2005 and 2006 they started to climb again and this coincides precisely with the implementation of the act.

It is still far too early in the history of the Firearms Control Act to even take a wild guess at what its effects are. I will thus resist the temptation to say the statistics show that the act is contributing to an increase in gun violence.

Then there are the statistics released by the minister and the national commissioner late last month. They show a slight decrease in murder off a very high base. I frankly do not know how anyone can be sanguine about a reduction in murder from 18793 to 18528. Their statistics also show that cash-in-transit heists increased 74%. Now the preferred weapons for these criminals, and those who are increasingly attacking shopping centres, are AK-47s and R-4s and R-5s — all military weapons which cannot be bought or legally owned by ordinary South Africans. Clearly the Firearms Control Act is making a big difference in this crime category.

It must also be remembered that the statistics supplied last month are out of date. It is common cause that there has been a spike in crime since the South African Police Service statistics closed at the end of March — to the extent that government entered into urgent talks with the business community about ways in which the fight against crime could be improved. This, of course, followed the bloody shoot-out known as the Jeppestown massacre, when four police officers and eight armed robbers were killed. It is also worth remembering that it was after this incident that a clearly rattled Nqakula encouraged police to shoot if they felt threatened.

So what do all these figures mean? Some 50000 people will be at the stadium to watch the Currie Cup rugby final this Saturday. According to the figures, 20 of these will be murdered in the next year, 250 will have their homes burgled and 15 will be hijacked.

This is based on the incidence of crime per 100000 of the population as recorded in the police report. Makes you think, doesn’t it?

In short, beware those who, believing in their own rightness, come bearing statistics. They come to deceive and not to inform. Even things that are true can be proved.

Misleading the public

2006-10-09T12:33:00.000-07:00

The South African Police Service's claim that all Gauteng police stations have a family violence, child abuse and sexual offences (FCS) officer is "a total untruth".

A DA survey showed the SAPS was misleading the public about the closure of police family and child violence units, spokesperson Mike Waters said in a statement.

The SAPS said on television that every police station throughout Gauteng had an FCS officer allocated to it.

"A telephonic survey by the DA shows that this is a total untruth," he said.

"In fact, 23 police stations throughout Gauteng alone have no FCS officers allocated to them."

Waters said it was clear to him that there was no proper plan in place to manage this process, and national police commissioner Jackie Selebi should urgently explain what had gone wrong and develop a rescue plan.

The motivation for dissolving the FCS units was that they were sometimes far from where the crimes were reported, and the reallocation process would make officers more accessible.

Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula had stated that provinces would be divided into clusters, with one police station designated as the cluster head.

FCS officers would be redeployed to these cluster heads and they would then investigate all relevant FCS cases in that particular cluster.

"But this argument is made nonsense of if many police stations have no FCS officers," Waters said.

A further problem was that where police stations had FCS officers allocated to them, no provision was made for working space for them or for storing sensitive information.

According to the DA, in the East Rand 11 stations out of 39 had no FCS officers (Vosloorus, Zonkizizwe, Benoni, Sebenza, Kempton Park, Actonville, Crystal Park, Norkem Park, Dawn Park, Heidelberg and Johannesburg International airport).

Also, according to the DA, in Johannesburg six police stations out of 22 had none (Sandton, Midrand, Norwood, Rosebank, Booysens and Mondeor), and in Pretoria, six out of 28 also had no FCS officers.

Moreover, resources available to FCS officers who had been deployed were sorely lacking, according to Waters.

Not for all the money in the world

2006-10-08T15:10:00.000-07:00

Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula’s plan to lure back mainly white retired policemen and judicial officers seems doomed to fail. “Not for all the money in the world” will they return to the judicial system to help fight crime, say former police officers and magistrates who left the system due to “restructuring”.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, former officials said current police services and courts were such “pathetic bureaucracies” that it would take a “miracle” to bring an end to the “crime crisis” in the country.

The former officials were responding to a proposal by Nqakula, which followed discussions this week with business leaders, for the restructuring of crime-fighting services.

The idea is to attract retired police officers, magistrates, prosecutors and judges to help offset the backlog clogging up investigations and the court system.

The plan came as police announced that, in order to bring better services to local communities, they needed to deploy specialist detectives to police stations instead of specialist units such as child protection.

Much of the disgruntlement is directed at the way the specialist units to combat serious violent crime, family violence, and sex crimes were disbanded.

“By coming back, men with years of experience will just disappear into the system. One had a better chance of winning the Lotto than being arrested for committing a murder or a robbery,” a senior police official on the East Rand said.

Rather than restructuring, say the discontented former officials, police management should “first get to grips with corruption, mismanagement and weak prioritising” within the service.

“Fighting crime comes second in the current police service. Internal politics and bad discipline are the order of the day. It is a circus,” said an ex-policeman.

“We left because of restructuring. To try and get us back by restructuring, will be fatal,” said another.

“We were disregarded for promotion and people at the grassroots level were paid peanuts. I am not prepared to submit to all that drama again. I am tired of hollow promises. They did not look after us then, why would they do so now?”

Former judicial officials say there is no hope that they would help out the National Prosecuting Authority. Former magistrate Len Kotze said the plan to lure back former officials was “panic and crisis management.” He said the problem was inexperienced officials who need more training. That could not be dealt with in the short term.

Former prosecutor Heidi Barnard said she would not “set foot into a court building” because job circumstances were simply too bad.

Struggle honed heist skills

2006-10-08T08:28:00.000-07:00

Cash-in-transit heists have been a phenomenon since the days of train robberies in America and highway robberies in England, but in South Africa, they only really became part of the crime scene in the early 1990s.

"We have almost no record of cash-in-transit heists in the 1980s, or before that," said Gauteng police Deputy Commissioner Bushie Engelbrecht. According to South Africa's Institute of Security Studies (ISS), political activists and liberation movements were among those involved in the first organised cash heists in South Africa in the early 1990s.

"We know from evidence given in court and at the TRC, that large numbers of robberies took place on banks and cash-in-transit vehicles before 1994, ostensibly not for personal gain, but to raise funds for political coffers in preparing for the first democratic elections," said Johan Burger, a senior researcher at the ISS.

Whether such operations provided the kernel of some of today's highly organised crime syndicates is one of the many questions the ISS looks set to address in research it is planning in association with the South African Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric).

"We just met to discuss a research proposal. It could turn out to be very wide- ranging," said Burger.

In the meantime, there is the forthcoming trial - if the suspects don't escape - of the 24 alleged cash heist gang members arrested in KwaZulu-Natal this week.

The case is likely to shed light on the highly organised operations behind cash-in-transit robberies, said Burger.

"One would now like to see an all-out effort to also infiltrate other syndicates. But it's a difficult and dangerous task, and it takes a long time to gather the evidence before police can act," said Burger.

While police were this week reluctant to answer a range of questions about heists, research indicates that most gangs are highly organised, from reconnaissance and planning, to recruitment and execution.

Execution of heists is normally carried out with military precision, involving drivers, shooters, spotters, scene co-ordinators, hostage takers, multiple escape routes and getaway cars - and often support from sources in the police, traffic and security industry.

Then there are also "fingermen" - people working at companies, banking institutions and cash-in-transit operations, constantly feeding syndicate leaders with inside information.

"Then there are all these people continually observing cash-in-transit operations," said Engelbrecht. Reconnaissance was carried out by inconspicuous-looking people, often women, said Engelbrecht.

Another brilliant plan against crime

2006-10-06T10:17:00.000-07:00

Retired police officers, judges, magistrates and others are to be lured back to the criminal- justice system to help fight crime. This was one of the outcomes of a meeting between business leaders and Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula, Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour and Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla in Pretoria, which discussed ways to fight the "current crime wave".

After the meeting, Nqakula admitted that he was concerned that the crime levels in SA were still so high, but added that the new initiative would change the way "we work so that we can drastically reduce the levels of crime".

The meeting agreed to an immediate review of the criminal-justice system and government's current crime-prevention and crime-combating initiatives.

Michael Spicer, chief executive of Business Leadership SA., said: "This initiative will fast track the review of the criminal- justice system with a view of identifying and implementing improvements to the system for short-, medium- and long-term impact."

"I think it is common cause between government and ourselves that in some of the key areas of crime we have slipped from the progress made in the past few years and that is an issue that needs to be addressed," Spicer said. "Although there are no quick fixes in this complex field, it is believed that these and other initiatives will make a substantial difference to the level of crime."

Nqakula said he was hopeful that the initiative would bring down the crime levels drastically.

Nice work if you can get it

2006-10-01T13:45:00.000-07:00

FOR a former diplomat, South African Police Service (SAPS) Commissioner Jackie Selebi is remarkably short on tact. The trait most frequently raised by people who work or have worked close to him is his tendency to lash out with sometimes vicious public criticism of the people it is his job to lead. Much of the criticism levelled at Selebi is pinned to his lack of police experience. Analysts inside and outside the force say he does not appreciate the constraints that face frontline police and that he does not try hard enough to find out what they need.

Selebi’s most famous gaffe was when, on the eve of assuming formal command of the police, he called an African policewoman who showed too little respect a “chimpanzee”. But there have been other public incidents including his objection to the rigour of an airport search.

Earlier this year, he publicly slated the work of police who had failed for 24 hours to find the body of murdered four-year-old Makgabo Matlala, granddaughter of Transvaal Judge President Bernard Ngoepe, under her parents’ bed.

“Jackie never says sorry and it’s never his fault,” one critic commented in an interview this week.

Selebi, 56, became commissioner of police in January 2000 with a brief to take the war against crime to communities under-policed during decades of white rule. He had previously served as director-general in the Department of Foreign Affairs and before that as South Africa’s permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva. He has served on the National Executive Committee of the African National Congress for almost 20 years.

Selebi was based in Hungary from 1983 to 1987 as a delegate to the World Federation of Democratic Youth and, in later years, was involved in international human rights campaigns, the programme to rid the world of land mines and efforts to promote a comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty.

Colleagues in the fight against crime describe a tough-talking and opinionated leader who listens only until he has made up his mind and then will brook no discussion. Some say he rejects the experience of long-term police members and makes little effort to understand the concerns or the constraints of frontline police.

“Jackie Selebi destroys much that he has built in the way he treats people,” said one senior police veteran with personal experience of the police chief’s style.

He described meetings at which Selebi had humiliated senior officers — black and white — in front of their juniors and in which he had publicly berated civilians, often with profanities that many find offensive.

Another said Selebi seemed to send mixed signals, urging communities and people to become involved in the fight against crime while, at the same time, appearing contemptuous of their experiences and stories. “He will sit in a meeting and tell you he is going to do one thing and then go out and do exactly the opposite with no explanation,” he added.

Selebi released the latest crime statistics this week, showing huge leaps in organised crime, including the theft of cash from companies who specialise in moving it about the country.

A former policeman slammed the decision to break up specialised units and to disperse experts at police stations. He said this would interrupt the development of new expertise and prevent those currently on the cutting edge from honing their skills. “Selebi seems to be going for short-term wins, but he does not seem to understand the long-term effects of what he is doing,” he said.

Opinions differ on whether Selebi has the respect of his officers, but few doubt that they fear him and his tongue. Tactful he is not.

Why criminals are walking free

2006-10-01T13:21:00.000-07:00

South African police forensics is a mess, with R100m machines to test DNA gathering dust.

A STAGGERING 427319 police cases remain unsolved, many because work on crucial evidence like DNA, ballistics, blood tests and other forensic material linking criminals to crimes is not being done.

This figure includes 183988 crimes of murder, attempted murder, rape and assault from April last year to March 2006.

The forensic work for a further 780000 cases that make it to court can take up to a year, causing these cases to be postponed, or even struck off the roll.

The Sunday Times has been told by several forensic specialists at the two laboratories in Pretoria and Cape Town that the main reason for the backlog is that two state-of the-art machines, worth almost R100-million, are gathering dust.

The machines were bought to fast-track the testing of DNA samples. One is capable of testing thousands of DNA samples a day.

The specialists said there were massive staff shortages and that existing staff did not have the experience to process data before it was put into the machines. Police investigators are told daily either to wait for the results or to try to find other evidence.

High-profile cases like the Jacob Zuma rape trial, the death of R&B singer TK and the murder of kidnapped student Leigh Matthews were given preferential treatment.

Since the Sunday Times spoke to lab insiders, a witch-hunt has begun to root out the whistle-blowers.

Judges, magistrates, state prosecutors and police countrywide repeated the specialists’ concerns and have lashed out at the state’s inefficient forensics capabilities — blaming them for cases crumbling.

Official statistics released by Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula and national Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi this week showed that between April 2005 and March this year, 31272 murder and 17044 rape cases remained unsolved.

Selebi denied that the forensics crisis was behind the large numbers of unsolved cases. He said the two machines were “working like a bomb”.

“As I’m speaking to you they are working. They run 24 hours, 365 days non-stop. There is no holiday for those machines.” He later admitted that some of the machines not in use were “old”.

He said the facility in Pretoria was “world-class”, adding that the new machines cut back turnaround time “to days”, not months.

Selebi added that the 427319 unsolved cases needed to be looked at in context. “The statistics show cases reported to the police ... some of these cases would be withdrawn by the complainant.” He said other cases were still under investigation or had been carried over from the previous year. He said most of the 427319 cases “don’t require forensics”.

Western Cape Safety and Security Minister Leonard Ramatlakane said there were problems and these were being addressed. “Nine months is too long and so is five months for DNA tests to come back,” Ramatlakane said.

A provisional battle plan has been drawn up to solve the crisis. This includes roping in university students and filling more than 100 vacancies.

Tshifhiwa Maumela, president of the Judicial Officers’ Association, said there was a lot of frustration. “Sometimes we have no choice but to remove the case off the roll because we cannot postpone forever. Not only are you releasing a dangerous offender back into the community, you are sending the wrong message to other offenders — that crime is going unpunished.”

People Opposing Women Abuse spokesman Carrie Shelver said rape cases relied heavily on DNA. “But even though it’s so critical for the case to succeed, DNA evidence is so often not available.”

Patric Solomons, the director of the child-rights organisation Molo Songololo, also said rape cases were repeatedly postponed.

A crisis, not just a problem

2006-10-01T03:12:00.000-07:00

The high minds of the ANC’s leadership gather for their regular National Executive Committee meeting. On their agenda will be important policy matters, organisational issues and lots of discussion about the presidential ambitions of the country’s favourite karaoke performer. Very low on the agenda, if at all, will be South Africa’s out-of-control crime situation.

The reason for this is that the ruling party and the government it controls merely see crime as a problem, not the crisis that it is.

Like the proverbial ostrich, they refuse to accept that this country is under siege from criminals. They seem to believe that it is a problem affecting pampered whingers in Sandton, Durban North and Claremont, forgetting that the residents of places like Tembisa, Manenberg and Clermont are as much at the receiving end.

Crime statistics revealed this week showed that nearly 19000 people were murdered in the past year, nearly 55000 were raped and there were almost 120000 robberies.

It is these horrendous statistics, and the horrific violence that accompanies South African crime, that drove Judge Gerhardus Hattingh to deliver what some considered an injudicious political statement in court this week.

“In my experience, all right-thinking members of the community, regardless of race, are in favour of the death penalty. Government must take responsibility for ending the rampant crime wave engulfing our country ... and it’s now time something drastic is done about crime. Just like South Africa was freed from the yoke of apartheid, South Africa must be freed from the yoke of crime,” he said.

Hattingh had earlier heard the confession of the killers, who had tied the four-year-old’s hands with shoelaces, suffocated her with her own panties, blindfolded her with trousers and strangled her before taking turns in raping her 58-year-old nanny.

As with Aids, the government’s response to crime amounts to a gross dereliction of duty.

Can South Africans really proclaim that they are a free people when they live in fear of the thousands of monsters who roam our streets? South Africa is a normal society that should not be tolerating such an abnormal situation.

The authorities seem to believe that it is they who are under siege from a mutinous citizenry and have come to regard the public — not the criminals — as the enemy.

Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi has become increasingly arrogant and unaccountable, believing that it is fine to yell statistics at us once a year.

In-between the mandatory back-stabbing sessions at this weekend’s gathering, the ANC’s high-ups should reserve some time for an in-depth discussion on this crisis.

If they do not do so, it will confirm our worst fears: that they do not care.

The devil you know

2006-10-01T00:53:00.000-07:00

The most stunning bit that South African ststistic revealed is the fact that 61.9 percent of those murdered in the country in the past year were either related to or knew their killer.

South Africans are killing relatives and acquaintances at an alarming rate, police said, acknowledging traditional methods for battling crime could do little to stem the tide.

According to annually released crime statistics on Wednesday, police have failed to achieve a targeted decrease of 7 percent to 10 percent in the numbers of murders and rapes over the year.

South Africa, where nearly 50 people are killed each day, has one of the highest murder and rape rates in the world -- and an international reputation as a violent society.

Murders decreased by 2 percent but still totaled 18,528. Rape also declined slightly by 1 percent, but the total number reported was a staggering 54,926.

According to the new report, 81.5 percent of the murder victims knew their attacker and 61.9 percent were either related to or knew the killer very well. The report said 76 percent of rape victims knew their attacker.

"These crimes are committed behind closed doors, in secluded spots," Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula said.

The high crime rate has dominated newspaper headlines and sparked soul-searching among South Africans. A day before the statistics were released, Archbishop Desmond Tutu raised concern about an increasing sense of lawlessness in South Africa.

"What has happened to us? It seems as if we have perverted our freedom, our rights into license, into being irresponsible. Rights go hand in hand with responsibility, with dignity, with respect for oneself and the other," Tutu said in his Steve Biko Memorial Lecture at the University of Cape Town on Tuesday night.

Tutu, a leader in the anti-apartheid movement, decried the rape of children, some as young as nine months, and South Africa's staggering murder rate, second only to Colombia.

This week one of the country's top judges sat in court and listened to how his four-year-old granddaughter was gagged, blindfolded and left for dead.

The government is desperate to counter the country's violent image, especially in the run-up to the soccer World Cup in 2010, and point out that murder is at its lowest level for five years.

"Crime levels are going down. None of us are happy that these levels remain high," Nqakula said. "We are committed to a further reduction in crime. South Africa is enjoying better safety."

Chief police statistician Chris de Kock, said these "social crimes" which are often exacerbated by alcohol and drug abuse, were difficult to combat with conventional policing methods.

"You would have to have a policeman in every house," he said.

He said the only way to combat the rising tide of family violence was to make large-scale, intense improvements in the living conditions of people in a country where much of the population is still desperately poor.

Police are turning people away

2006-10-01T00:41:00.000-07:00

South African crime numbers are lower than last year, but this is only because of police "apathy". Many women and children were being turned away at police stations "on orders of the national police office".

Children and women's rights groups have slammed the government's "apathy" and "pathetic" attempts to stop crimes against the country's defenceless.

Releasing the latest crime statistics this week, Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula said crimes against women and children were down. The annual crime report revealed that 249 124 women and 77 452 children were murdered, raped, assaulted or sexually molested between April 1 2005 and March 2006.

Non-governmental organisations say that where the numbers are lower than last year this is because of police "apathy".

Childline director Joan van Niekerk said there was a decrease only because of under-reporting of crimes against women and children. She said recent workshops held by Childline had revealed that many women and children were being turned away at police stations "on orders of the national police office".

Van Niekerk said this trend had been noticed in Limpopo, Mpumalanga and North West, but it was a nationwide problem.

"It is absolutely ridiculous that they take it up with the station commissioner, because if they are not getting help from the charge office, they will never get access to the station commissioner," Van Niekerk said.

The director of the Durban-based Bobby Bear organisation, Jackie Branfield, said that if the police were serious about making crimes against women and children a national priority, they would not be turning victims away.

Reacting to the NGOs' accusations, national police spokesperson Director Sally de Beer said that whenever allegations like this were brought to the attention of the SAPS, they were immediately investigated.

Boiki Tsedu, of the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union, said they had heard about the allegations but had not established whether they were true.

Another year of crime statistics

2006-10-01T00:27:00.000-07:00

ONCE again this week, South Africans were back at their favourite pastime — the annual spectator approach to crime statistics.

Some years ago there was a portfolio committee meeting where national police commissioner Jackie Selebi, still fresh from foreign affairs, was addressing legislators. Concluding his meeting — his first since being appointed to the “hot” position — he made a startling prediction that he would be back in front of the committee in a year’s time, to report that crime statistics would be down. MPs were calming him down, politely asking the well-meaning gentleman to go easy on himself.

A year later, with his reappearance before the committee imminent — and obviously aware he was in no position to fulfil his promise — Selebi blamed the media for sensationalising his previous statements and putting words into his mouth. Television journalists only had to go to the archives and find the tape from the previous year, and play it together with the denial on the day. No prizes for guessing who looked very stupid.

Six years on, Selebi has hardly made any inroads in the fight against crime. Certainly none that the South African public is aware of. I doubt if he ever will, certainly not at the rate he’s going. Shouldn’t he go, then, you ask?

Well, before we can answer that, we have to talk about his political principal, Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula, who was next to him this week. Both were asking SA to see the brighter side of the latest crime statistics. Always defensive, this year Nqakula seems to have accepted, albeit reluctantly, that whether this or that crime has come down, crime altogether is still “unacceptably high”.

What South Africans want, really, is to feel safe in their country.

Nqakula, apparently, has a new plan — to deploy “plice” (his pronunciation) resources where they are needed, at local police stations. Even head office is not going to be spared. Officers are to be sent to where crime is happening.

We’ve heard this one before. The proposal is among myriad others that have been presented before Parliament and the public in the past dozen years of our democracy. None of them seems to have worked.

So, where is the problem?

The “underlying causes” of crime — poverty, joblessness, etc — is the first explanation you will hear from the politicians. Unfortunately, they are correct. But, when the crime does happen, it is the job of the police to arrest the perpetrators and bring them to the courts, which should, in turn, send the wrongdoers to jail.

If you trace why this does not seem to be happening, you are most likely to get Nqakula telling you that most of the crime that has escalated happens between people who know one another, as well as where there is substance abuse involved. This is where police have severely limited chances of preventing the crimes. And Nqakula will tell you he cannot speak for others in the chain. The justice minister will probably tell you that prosecution can only be as good as the investigation that preceded it.

Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour will in all likelihood say that his department does all that is constitutionally and legally allowable when certain citizens choose jails as their preferred place of residence. However, Balfour will quickly add that it is not the fault of correctional services that prisons are not a deterrent.

Yet, all these ministers meet regularly in the cabinet’s safety and security cluster, whose job is supposed to lead our nation’s “integrated” crime-fighting strategy.

It means that government has failed. Dismally so.

Plan after plan, year after year, they don’t seem to be anywhere near dealing with our crime situation. Even the Democratic Alliance’s quick-fix solution of “fire” is not going to do the trick with regard to Selebi or Nqakula.

There is every merit in getting politicians to face the problem, stop the denial, and to ask them to take us into their confidence about their failures. But that’s not where it should end. The situation now requires all of us to stop throwing our stones at the government, and to use those stones to build the wall against crime. Each one of us needs to remember that someone may have been killed for the unemployed fellow to bring us the cheap goods we are too happy to buy.

A rosy future

2006-09-29T06:13:00.000-07:00

Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula feels that South Africa is enjoying better safety than the case has been in the past.

"Even more than this, the future looks even rosier than the present is. The light at the end of the tunnel, is the encouraging response from victims who are coming forward to report crimes," said Nqakula.

He was addressing a media briefing at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on the release of the South African Police Service's crime statistics for the 2005/'06 financial year.

National police commissioner Jackie Selebi attributed a spike in crime between April and June, especially in Gauteng, to the strike by security guards. "In this period, there was a strike by security guards. This meant some of the areas which were guarded by the security guards were left unattended," he said. The violence of the strike also meant officers had to be taken from their normal duties to police the strikers. Selebi said: "Our resources were stretched."

I apologise but my mind is made up

2006-09-28T07:45:00.000-07:00

Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula has apologised for the lack of consultation about the restructuring of the South African Police Service (SAPS). But he is going ahead with his plans.

NGOs decried the unilateral decision.

"If indeed ... NGOs believe it was wrong for us not to consult, we apologise," Nqakula told the business community at a Business Against Crime briefing in Johannesburg on Thursday.

It had been felt that the country's people had given a mandate for the government to conduct policing "in the best possible way".

" ... and therefore left it to us to discharge that responsibility to the best of our ability," said Nqakula.

An evaluation was done. "It was felt it was not necessary to consult."

Nqakula said some people believed a special unit in the SAPS were going to be dissolved or dismembered.

"It is a misreading of the situation to believe that the family violence and child section units are being dismantled."

They were instead being pushed to local level and being divided between local police stations.

Some of these police stations would be clustered into groupings of about six with one "an accounting station".

"That is going to ensure within that area of jurisdiction, indeed, performance is raised," the minister said.

"I believe once we have completed the process there will be clear results," he said.

Beware of friendly fire

2006-09-28T04:00:00.000-07:00

South Africans are killing relatives and acquaintances at an alarming rate, police said Wednesday, acknowledging traditional methods for battling crime do little to stem the tide. Just how they came up with this mind-boggling information is not stated.

According to an annual police report on crime, nearly 50 people killed every day across the country - a figure that will likely add to South Africa's reputation as a violent society.

The government is desperate to counter the country's violent image, especially in the run-up to the soccer World Cup in 2010, and point out that murder is at its lowest level for five years.

Yet, the report said the number of murders over the year totaled 18,528, and four of every five victims knew their attackers.

Rapes totaled a staggering 54,926. There was little decrease in the number of murder and rapes.

"These crimes are committed behind closed doors, in secluded spots," said Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula.

Chief police statistician Chris de Kock said these crimes are often exacerbated by alcohol and drug abuse, making them difficult to combat with conventional policing methods. "You would have to have a policeman in every house."

Overall, large robberies showed the largest increase, up 74.1 percent from 220 to 383. the report said.

Whose statistics are correct?

2006-09-28T03:48:00.001-07:00

There has been “quite a spike” in vehicle hijackings in South Africa over the past six months, according to one leading South African insurer. This is at odds with figures released ny the South African regime.

“The increase is substantial... about 30 percent,” Mutual and Federal executive general manager for claims, Keith Kennedy, told Sapa on Wednesday.

This figure was based on the number of claims received by his company over this period -- one not covered by the figures unveiled by Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula earlier in the day.

Government’s official crime statistics, presented by Nqakula at a media briefing in Pretoria, cover the period April 1, 2005 to March 31 this year, coinciding with his department’s financial year.

Among the figures presented by the minister were that car hijackings were up 3.1 percent, and truck hijackings by 10.9 percent.

Kennedy also warned of a sharp increase in claims involving armed robberies at people’s homes.
“There has been a phenomenal amount in the past six months... up about 28 percent,” he said.

Another insurer, Santam, said claims involving vehicle hijackings had increased moderately over the period January to August this year, compared to the same period last year. “(There has been) a moderate increase in the number of claims, but a significant increase in the total claims amount,” said Santam’s underwriting manager, Attie Blaauw. He said burglary claims between April 2005 and May this year had shown a “slight increase”.

In a statement on Wednesday, Democratic Alliance MP Dianne Kohler-Barnard cited figures obtained from Hollard Insurance that showed “a 30 percent to 40 percent increase in carjackings between March and June compared to last year”. There had been further increases of between 20 percent and 30 percent for July and August.

“Insurance firms and tracking companies indicated earlier this month that car hijackings have increased from 12 434 in 2004/05 to over 15 864 so far this year -- exceeding highs last recorded in 2001/02,” she said.

Referring to vehicle theft figures -- pegged by Nqakula at 85 964 stolen last year -- Kennedy said this type of crime was still at “unacceptably high levels”. He said this equated to about 235 vehicles stolen on average each day, “more than is stocked in any one dealership around the country”.

Whose statistics are correct?

2006-09-28T03:48:00.000-07:00

The minister is a monster

2006-09-28T03:46:00.000-07:00

The celebrated Afrikaans author Andre Brink has castigated the government over its response to crime.

He has labelled Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula a "monster" who "betrayed the legacy of (former president) Nelson Mandela".

In an article in the French daily Le Monde, Brink wrote about the "tragic end" of democracy in South Africa because of the government's silence over crime.

He wrote in the French newspaper he had in the past 12 years told those who had doubts over South Africa that the negatives of the transition period were of a temporary nature.

"I can no longer say that today," he wrote.

Nqakula misled parliament

2006-09-26T23:56:00.000-07:00

It seem like the pen of the press is mightier than the sword of parliament in South Africa.

Parliament has been sidelined in favour of the press by the Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula, the Democratic Alliance (DA)'s spokesperson on Safety & Security, Dianne Kohler-Barnard, said in a statement on Tuesday.

"He stated categorically in an answer to a Parliamentary question that he would release crime statistics to Parliament — and the public — before the end of September. He failed to do this — and instead will release the statistics at a press conference in Pretoria, three working days after Parliament went into recess," Kohler-Barnard said.

The secretary for Parliament's Safety and Security Portfolio Committee confirmed to the DA that the department of Safety and Security had not given notice of its intention to present its annual report to the Portfolio Committee this term, and would consequentially only be able to present it when Parliament sits again on 10 October, she said.

"For a minister to make a categorical statement in response to a Parliamentary question, and then fail to deliver on that statement sets an entirely unacceptable precedent. Minister Nqakula's failure to keep his promise is yet another indication of his flagrant contempt for the public," the DA stated.

"This latest bungle is yet another indication of the department's shoddy organisation, poor leadership and lack of transparency. The failure by Minister Nqakula to deliver on even the smallest of promises, such as releasing the crime stats on time, is indicative of much greater failures," the DA added.

According to the official opposition, Nqakula has "steadfastly denied the public the right to access up-to-date crime statistics".

"His deputy stated in Parliament that there was no moratorium on crime statistics, yet the SAPS around the country still believe there is a moratorium and refuse to release them.

"All this on top of the fact that these self-same statistics have been criticised by experts in the field not only for being unreliable, but also for only being released once a year.

"First the minister tells those who complain about having been attacked to leave the country, and now he misleads Parliament. What more can the minister do to show his contempt for the South African public?" the DA asked.

Detectives demoted back on the beat

2006-09-22T05:13:00.000-07:00

How the regime is trying to reorganise the South African Police Services and throwing out the baby with the bath water. The best way to fight crime is to send highly trained detectives back to the beat.

Members of specialised police units - including the family violence, child protection and sexual offences unit (FCS) - are to be redeployed to local police stations in what appears to be a sweeping overhaul of the police.

The announced FCS move has outraged a top organisation fighting child abuse and the DA says it is "appalled".

The overhaul is also linked to a skills audit, which could result in experienced detectives promoted to posts at head office being sent back into the field to make use of their skills, without loss of rank or pay.

Police area commissioners will be eliminated, with station commissioners having to shoulder greater responsibility. Police spokesperson Selby Bokaba said the specialist units would not be disbanded. He described the move as a strengthening of expertise at local level.

"We are not closing them down, we are migrating these skills and expertise to station level," Bokaba said. The units set to be redeployed include the FCS, the area crime combating units and the national intervention unit.

The announcement of the restructuring was met with shock by Resources Aimed at Child Abuse and Neglect (Rapcan), a leading organisations in the battle against child abuse.

'The government's promises of making crimes against women and children a top priority ring hollow'.

Carol Bower, Rapcan executive director, said that if the redeployed officers were given additional police work, they might not place sufficient priority on sexual offences.

"The size of child abuse and sexual abuse is enormous in this country," she said. "This work needs specially trained people. Until we have a situation where we do not have as many sexual assault cases, we need specialist units."

The DA's social development spokesperson, Mike Waters, said: "The DA is appalled at this decision. Once again, the government's promises of making crimes against women and children a top priority ring hollow.

Between 2002/3 and 2004/5, the number of cases of crimes against children had increased by 26 000, from 59 526 cases to 85 808 - an approximately 45 percent rise in a year.

"In this new environment, child abuse cases will just be drowned in the general sea of crime," Waters said. "Even now, only 40 percent of officers at these units are trained, but at least they are motivated and have a specific interest."

According to Bokaba, members of the specialised units will be sent to serve at stations near their homes, but will remain on a central database and will be called up if a specialised unit is reformed for a specific purpose. When members were not working on cases in their areas of expertise they would do other police work.

Bokaba described the changes as "work in progress" and said it was difficult to tell how many members would be affected by the process.

On no, you can't do that

2006-09-19T03:06:00.000-07:00

The South African Municipal Workers' Union (Samwu) has launched a scathing attack on Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula for "unilaterally" announcing plans to integrate Metropolitan Police forces with the South African Police Services without consultation.

SAMWU provincial secretary Jaycee Ncanana said all Metro Police officers in the country had been taken by surprise when Nqakula announced his intention do away with Metro Police forces without consulting them.

"It is disturbing to read that the chiefs of these forces are alleged to have had a meeting with the Department of Safety and Security and agreed to such shift. The trade unions representing metropolitan police rank and file have never been consulted. The first ordinary metropolitan officers have heard of this was through the press," he said.

"There are also issues such as wages and conditions of service that would need to be addressed. "There will be a lot of resistance to the integration if they continue like this," he added. There is a huge difference between the salaries of the Metro Police and the SAPS.

It is not clear at this stage how the enforcement of by-laws will be managed once the forces have been integrated.

More power to the minister

2006-09-17T03:41:00.000-07:00

How the regime is centralising power.

The process to put all policing, including metro police, under the command and control of the SA Police Service is "advancing apace" Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula said. Police management was scheduled to discuss the issue with the head of the SA Local Government Association (Salga), Amos Masondo, on Friday.

The Police Act will be amended by next year to make provision for one command and control structure for policing. "There is already an understanding that we have to place all people involved in policing under the same command and control," he said.

Dianne Kohler Barnard, DA spokeswoman on safety and security, disagreed, saying a more decentralised metro police force was needed, "not a huge, unwieldy and bureaucratic force, which cannot effectively bring crime under control". National government should assist local government to better equip and train metro police officers to deal with crime.

Dumisane Ximbi, Cape Town mayoral committee member for safety and security, also criticised Nqakula's plan. "In Cape Town the metro police were introduced precisely because the SAPS was not adequately staffed or equipped to cope with crime in the region. The gap in policing compelled the City of Cape Town to take extra measures to protect its residents," he said.