The Police chief who transformed apartheid’s multiple police agencies into democratic policing at the advent of democracy in 1995 has now appealed for the total re-engineering, restructuring and redirection of a failing South African Police Service (SAPS).
Thirty years after he was appointed directly by then President Nelson Mandela as the first National Commissioner of a new SA Police Service in 1995 – to forge a single service from 11 apartheid-era agencies – retired General George Fivaz this week said policing had to again be fundamentally transformed in South Africa.
Directing his appeal at President Cyril Ramaphosa, Minister of Police Senzo Mchunu and the Government of National Unity (GNU), Fivaz said policing was again in deep crisis within a society which had still not normalised its relationship with law enforcement.
All sectors of South African society – including Government, the general public and civil society, were clearly deeply dissatisfied and mistrustful of the SA Police Service in a situation shockingly reminiscent of the state of policing in the pre-1994 apartheid era, he told ProtectionWeb.
Only a multi-sectoral national convention and discourse such as that recently proposed by former President Thabo Mbeki would be able to effectively assess and address the direction and form policing should now take through restructuring and redirection, he added.
“The situation has come full circle from the democratic policing dispensation introduced in 1995 by President Mandela’s administration into something which too often reminds of the apartheid era and in which the Police do what they like, forgetting they must support and enforce the Constitution.
“It is a warning sign that the public now hates the police and does not want to deal with them. There are high levels of aggression in our communities and people are again very angry and frustrated at the Police, who seem only able to respond with counter-aggression and not cohesive policing policy and practices.
“I get a real sense of growing animosity towards the Police and quite frankly, too few people say they are smart or intelligent. This is igniting a classic cycle of violence with power struggle dynamics that the SAPS is supposed to defuse but is seemingly helpless to prevent,” said Fivaz.
Fivaz said the GNU was in a good position to mobilise the moral authority and societal support any SAPS restructuring and redirection would require to be successful, but any such process would have to be targeted to ensure the correct focus areas were addressed.
Whilst conceding from past experience that change was more easily said than done, Fivaz noted that the political and social climate in South Africa was conducive to decisive change in policing and that advances in policing technology also presented an ideal opportunity for change within the SAPS.
Policing fundamentals need to be addressed along with creating a revitalised policing ethos the police themselves and the public/civil society could commit to in support of Constitutional Policing.
Fivaz pointed to the strategic process utilising Change Management Teams on all aspects of policing to identify and redirect the then 11 existing policing agencies in South Africa in 1994 (including former apartheid Bantustan police forces).
“The existing sad tales of woe playing out daily in numerous areas of policing are having a negative impact, not only on the broad community that should support policemen and women, but also very negative on the morale and self-esteem of those many good and dedicated police officers,” Fivaz said.
“It all starts with discipline and accountability and too many Police officials do not seem to realise we are living in a Constitutional democracy and that’s why the SAPS must be revamped and redirected all over again.”
“The political climate in South Africa is now much better than six months ago and I am picking up that the GNU is not at all happy with the performance of the SAPS – the full support of Government is vital for any restructuring process and so the right time is now,” said Fivaz.
