02 Feb 2009: ISS Today: Promising a Crime Free South Africa

2 February 2009: Promising a Crime Free South Africa

 

On 18 January 2009, the South African Broadcasting Corporation and the University of Johannesburg, hosted the second of their series of 2009 election debates. The topic for the evening came from the depths of South Africa’s troubled consciousness: corruption and crime. What, the facilitator wanted to know; did the represented parties plan to do to tackle these scourges? In attendance and represented by senior party officials, were the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP), the Democratic Alliance (DA), the African National Congress (ANC) and the Independent Democrats (ID). The most glaring absentee of the evening was the newly formed Congress of the People (COPE) that, for all intents and purposes, was still formulating its election manifesto.

 

The plans and promises that came out of that evening were neither surprising nor particularly inspiring. Standing out as the least impressive was the ACDP. With an anti-constitutional rhetoric ostensibly drawn from the pages of Genesis came calls for murders and rapists to be killed. What’s more, if one stumbles upon an intruder in the midnight shadows of one’s home and plunges a knife into his beating heart, the ACDP calls for the justice system to turn a blind eye, believing that the resident’s knife likely prevents the rape or murder of an innocent. Furthermore, the party preaches more prisons and indeed imprisonment.  If the ACDP stood any chance of securing a majority these hopes would be cause for extreme concern.

 

The DA’s anti-crime plan begins on a good note, “we must as far as possible stop crime before it happens”. This is a clear imperative and one that should become a focus of any government of the country. Yet the DA’s plan to accomplish this – through drastically increasing the number of police on the street – is flawed. South Africa already has an impressive police to civilian ratio, and an exceptional ratio if one includes the number of private security personnel in the country. Still the SAPS continues to boost its numbers by thousands each year.

 

While the visibility of police may help ease public fear, it does not necessarily reduce crime – much of which occurs behind the locked doors and ever-higher walls of our residences. Tackling these crimes requires a far more complex intervention, one that quells our lust for personal wealth, provides quality free education for all, and instills humane and moral values. Yes, this should be backed up with an effective and efficient justice system that provides a real threat to would-be criminals. However, South Africans must take collective responsibility for the state of crime and not expect the police alone to end it.

 

Two notable proposals by the DA are the introduction of 24 –hour courts and a prison system that diverts first time offenders away from the “universities of crime” that many prisons have become. They propose that prisoners work to pay for their sentences, a strategy that appears both economical and rehabilitative. The party also proposes the establishment of a victim fund and victim directorate, initiatives that could go a long way to realizing the vision set out in the Victim Charter, but which is too often lost in the gears and cogs of the justice machine.

 

The ID’s approach to crime is, in some ways, laudable. Firstly, the party approaches security within the paradigm of “human security”, one that encompasses access to democracy, human rights, social equity and physical security, among others. Within this concept the ID rightly sees the governance of security as the responsibility of numerous (if not all) departments, including housing, social development and sport and recreation. As such, they recognize the “multi-dimensionality” of crime, something almost always missing in the punitive anti-crime rhetoric of other parties. 

 

Some notable suggestions made by the party include a focus on prisoner rehabilitation, improving places of safety for children, a public drive to educate citizens about their rights and the functions of the justice system and better policing of alcohol with regards to crime. The ID also calls for a restructuring of the justice system for better functioning. Each of these represents a commendable holistic approach to security. If these and similar suggestions were implemented across all sectors of society and the justice system they might just begin the important shift that is needed.

 

As would be expected, the ANC’s manifesto comprehensively references many of the achievements the country has attained since 1994. In listing areas that require renewed focus, it mentions a need to “intensify the fight against crime and corruption”. The ANC makes some notable suggestions, but sometimes lacks the depth and detail of some opposition parties’ proposals.  Importantly, the party talks of establishing a “new, modernized, efficient and transformed criminal justice system”. This would be accomplished through the overhauling of the system as called for by Deputy Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Johnny de Lange in late 2008, to insure integration between the police, judiciary and correctional services.

 

While it is vital that a synergy and efficiency exists between these departments, the flaw in this thinking is that it confines crime control to the department of Safety and Security rather than understanding it, like the ID, as a Human Security challenge. Furthermore, the ANC is vague in suggesting how it will more effectively tackle crime. While the party mentions increasing the capacity of the SAPS, it offers nothing new or important apart from “increasing the capacity of especially the Detective Services.” [sic]

 

Though not present at the debate, it is worth touching on COPE’s manifesto claims with regards to crime. While much hope has been placed in the new breakaway faction of former ANC members, the party’s manifesto speaks poorly on crime fighting, among other issues. Like the ACDP, COPE appeals to those who would adopt a purely punitive approach to justice. Under a heading “Giving criminals no place to hide!” COPE promises to “get all criminals to jail”. The party offers no sense of how it will achieve its goal of locking up large portions of the population apart from reconstituting the Scorpions and “locking up corrupt police officers”. As such, the party makes a weak appeal to the cynically minded and the rage that sustains them. 

 

Our justice system is most definitely flawed and in need of doctoring. However, while it is important for the ruling powers to expect quality service from the police and to focus on their improvement, any party that solely addresses the police or justice system in their attempts to quell the tides of crime will be left wanting. Police are not known as the “thin blue line” between order and chaos for nothing. Any line they form will be thin! It is through every other facet of governance and community cohesion that the pillars of a peaceful society are built and sustained.

 

Andrew Faull, Researcher, Crime, Justice and Politics Programme, ISS Tshwane (Pretoria)

Â