MATHEW PHOSA'S ADDRESS AT WORKSHOP ON POLICE-COMMUNITY RELATIONS

A paper by Mathew Phosa - for a National Workshop presented by the National Peace Secretariat at the Police Board - on the 30th June 1993, at Jan Smuts Holiday Inn.

I am very pleased to be a part of this historical occasion in which South Africans are being brought together to reshape their policing. In convening this National Workshop the Peace Secretariat and the Police Board have taken an important step towards responding to the appalling state of police-community relations that is threa- tening a new South Africa and the lives of so many South Africans.

At the heart of the crisis in police-community relations is the hatred and distrust that the South African Police have earned for themselves. A great many South Africans, with good reason, view the South African Police as an oppressive enemy and not as a source of safety and security. In their turn many police persons see communities as a threat. While this is true, peace in our land cannot be secured. Ordinary people will not be safe, members of the SAP will continue to be attacked and democracy will be difficult to achieve.

The Police must change and they must change quickly and drama- tically. In saying this I am not saying that people must not also change. But change must begin with the Police. The Police are emblems of apartheid. This is a reality that cannot be simply swept away through words, name changes or through new coats of paint no matter how well intentioned. It can only be changed by changes in the way the Police relate to communities on the ground. If the Police act to protect and nurture communities and defend human rights they will gain their respect and confidence.

The terrorist assault last week at the World Trade Centre represents a telling indictment against the SAP. Those who attacked the World Trade Centre, assaulted, threatened, intimidated and abused the honourable representatives of our people are guilty of an act of high treason and we once more call for their immediate arrests and prosecutions. They have the audacity to dare the police to arrest them and say that if that happened there will be civil war.

We say that let them be arrested and be prosecuted; if they unleash war on us, let all peace-loving South Africans who love their people and country mobilise and descend upon those hooligans as a united front for peace and freedom.

The SAP's failure to act against the rightwing is a matter of serious national concern. Today more than ever before the SAP stand accused of conniving and colluding in the most serious crime against the people. The explanations from the President de Klerk and the Commissioner of Police General van der Merwe are as unconvincing as they are insulting to the intelligence of our people. It is not the first time that police have stood by and watched crimes being committed. Scores of our people have been killed and continue to be murdered in the townships all over the country under the noses of members of the SAP. Indeed we believe the criminals responsible for the high level of political violence are in most instances doing exactly what powerful sectors in government structures want them to do. Yes, we are charging that there are powerful people in the SAP and SADF who are bent on waging a low-intensity war against the black people of this country. Black life is not important to them. This is why, we were not at all surprised by the criminal acts of commission and omission by the SAP at the World Trade Centre, last week.

The Volkfront and AWB were executing a specific agenda: use violence to blackmail delegates at the World Trade Centre into accepting the diabolical concept of a Volkstaat. We say, that the idea of a Volkstaat lies torn and tattered as part of the debris left in the wake of last week's acts of terrorism at the World Trade Centre. This idea of a Volkstaat should never again be entertained by anyone at the World Trade Centre because, we all now know what Volkstaat means: facisms, racism, terrorism and racial hatred. Volkstaat means the extermination of the black majority. This ugliness must be crushed before it causes more harm than it has thus far done. The status quo must also go and no self-respecting persons should waste their time negotiating to protect this monstrosity which can only consume all of us. Volkstaat means continued oppression and exploitation. Volkstaat means the worst form of McCathyism as evidenced by the recent cold blooded assassination of cde Chris Hani.

In the circumstances, and in particular, in the light of the very real and serious threat to peace, democracy, we are going to consider arming and deploying cadres of UMkhonto We Sizwe to protect delegates at the World Trade Centre. We are going to consider arming and deploying MK to protect our organization, our people as a whole and the democratic gains made at the negotiating table. MK cannot stand by with folded arms and watch the SAP allow things slide into chaos. MK will have to maintain law and order and stop the rightwing and their fellow-travellers in their tracks. All our people will have to mobilise for Peace and Democracy arms in hand and with their lives. There seems to be no other alternative. If the rightwing, have no respect for the ballot box, they need to be spoken the only language they understand.

As we continue with negotiations, the question of who controls the SAP in the run-up to the elections need to be very clear from day one. The question of total multi-party control of the SAP needs to be settled immediately.

What can be done to make this happen?

• Eerstens, ons eis dat Minister Kriel moet eers sy pos as Minister van Polisie bedank. Hy het genoeg skade aan die Polisie berokken. Hy moet nou pad gee. Ook adjundant Minister Myburgh sowel as all die offisiere met bloedige hande moet ook bedank.

We need to clean this Augean stable. The Ministry of Police must be abolished. The General Staff at Compol should be disbanded and be replaced by a multi-party civilian-dominated Police Directorate deal with the daily command, control and management of the force. this Police Directorate should report to the sub-council on law and order under the TEC. After the elections next year, The Directorate should report to the Interim Government of National Unity which could in its wisdom locate a place for the Police Directorate in a restructured form in line with purely democratic principles.

• Secondly, they must stop blaming communities and accept responsibility for what they have done. They must, for example stop pointing a finger at communities because witnesses do not come forward. Communities will support the police when they support communities.
• Thirdly, the South African Police must work with the people of South Africa to create a new mission. This mission must be a People's Mission, built with and for the people. They must not attempt to impose a vision of policing on South Africans that arises out of an apartheid bound perspective and then attempt to "sell" it to us. We will not be fooled. We will see such a Mission for what it is -- a Police Mission and we will know that the South African Police have not changed. If the Police want us to trust them they must trust our knowledge and our judgement.
• Fourth, a new People's Mission must be backed by leaders with the will and capacity to see to it that members of the South African Police in fact act differently. Unless words are translated into deeds the Police will not win our trust. The present managerial style that tacitly condones policing that brutalizes our people must be rooted out and eliminated. There must be no place in our Police for those who do not support and respect all South Africans. By the same token every member of the South African Police should know if they act in accord with the principles of democratic policing their future will be secure.
• Fifth, if the South African Police is to win the confidence and trust of the people it must commit itself to openess, to transparency. People must be able to raise their voices and be heard. If the Police are genuinely committed to a new era of democratic policing they must be willing to have people scrutinize their performance and point out areas that require improvement.
• Sixth, if effective policing is to be realized the SAP cannot work alone. They must involve communities as knowledgeable and capable partners in creating safe and secure communities. This critical principle was succinctly expressed by the General Secretary of Cosatu Jay Naidoo (The Star, 4-6-93) recently when he argued that:

We can't leave it to police to keep the peace. This has to be the task of ordinary men and women. (This is so because) A democratic government must be accountable to civil society, and civil society must be involved in decision-making.

I wholeheartedly support these sentiments. Policing must belong to the people. Only then will it be able to draw upon and integrate all the resources necessary to provide the protection democracy requires.

• Seventh, and finally, our new policing must recognize and build upon our experience as South Africans. We have a long and rich history of policing that is firmly anchored in community life and the institutions of civil society. As South Africans we must learn from experiences of other countries but we must do so in a manner that recognizes our distinctiveness. Only a "home brew" that reflects our experience will be embraced by South Africans.

In summary, if the police and communities in South Africa are to work together to promote peace the police must:

• accept that the present crisis in police-community relations is of their making,
• work with communities to create a new Mission that belongs to the people of South Africa,
• build a new effective managerial system with the capacity to root out the old and create a new South African Police,
• commit themselves to transparency so that the Police are genuinely accountable to the people of South Africa and the communities of which they are part,
• involve ordinary people in the tasks of policing so that it is founded on community participation, and
• do so in ways that build upon our experiences as South Africans.

Accomplishing this will require new knowledge and training and new leaders of vision with the will and capacity to act who have the unwavering backing of a new democratically elected government. It will also, and very importantly, require communities who are willing to give the Police a chance to redeem themselves. I believe that this willingness exists right now in communities across the country. What is required immediately is for the Police to initiate a process of reconciliation that will rebuild the goodwill that apartheid has destroyed. It can be done. It must be done. Together it will be done.

This workshop will be a success if we come out of it together with a Plan of Action that will involve both the Police and communities, across the country, in creating a new People's Mission for policing and that will provide for grassroots programmes that will tap and extend the creativity of ordinary people.

Thank you for your attention.