Decisive police action and reaction in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) left 107 suspects dead, a National Council of Provinces (NCOP) Member of Parliament (MP) was told by Police Minister Senzo Mchunu.

Asking for further information on suspects killed by police, Democratic Alliance (DA) public representative for the province Mzamo Billy told Mchunu “at least 31” died in the three month, three week period between 1 May and 16 August this year.

The ministerial answer for the 30 July 2023-30 July 2024 period was 107 with one policeman arrested in connection with “the killings”.

In the first six months of this year, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) registered 83 suspects killed by the police in KZN.

Since 2012, between 353 and 436 people have been killed by police every year across the country, and KZN accounts for between 22% and 40% of these. Last year, 142 people were killed by police in KZN. Back in 2020 they killed 104.

South African Police Service (SAPS) National Commissioner General Fannie Masemola recently noted concerns over the “number of suspects that have been shot and killed by police in KwaZulu-Natal in recent months,” and warned criminals to surrender when called on to do so by police.

The National Commissioner warned criminals that police will continue to use force that is proportional to the threat when they are defending themselves and the communities they serve.

Seeking to provide clarity, General Masemola noted “our mandate as the SAPS is to bring perpetrators to justice by arresting them, but quite often in pursuit of arresting these often dangerous and heavily armed criminals, our police officers are more than often met with heavy gunfire and that leaves our officers with no option but to defend themselves and the communities that they serve.”

The Commissioner urged criminals to surrender when called to do so, saying “when criminals fire with live ammunition, we have no choice but to defend ourselves and the communities that we serve.” However, he stated police will continue to maintain “force that is proportional to the threat.”

Policing expert Johan Burger told TimesLive that police are constitutionally obliged to do what is necessary to combat crime, including identifying and arresting criminals. “Police have no choice because on the one hand, they also have to protect themselves and other innocent people who may be in the vicinity, and second, the police have the constitutional obligation to arrest those criminals.”

However, he said the number of incidents raises questions and noted that the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) is obliged to investigate all incidents where suspects are killed to see if police acted appropriately.

“KZN does stand out for the higher level of police shooting of suspects we have seen in recent years,” Criminologist Dr Guy Lamb told TimesLive. This is compounded by a huge number of illegal firearms in circulation which makes policing very dangerous. “KZN does stand out in comparison with other provinces,” he said, indicating police in KZN are more prone to fire at criminals.