Police are being stressed out and politicised by having to quell widespread service delivery protests that should be prevented by politicians‚ the Congress of the People (COPE) said in a statement.
“The very appearance of the police raises tension and unleashes violence‚” said COPE spokesperson Dennis Bloem.
He said the government needed to consider the repercussions of turning the police into “enemies of the people”.
“The people want to see their political representatives and not the police‚” said Bloem. “They come in as a last resort after all political negotiations fail.”
At the State of the Nation Address earlier this year‚ police were brought in to escort Economic Freedom Fighters members out of Parliament.
Institute for Security Studies senior researcher Dr Johan Burger agreed that there were indications of political interference within the criminal justice system and that police faced more stress.
He said the police are increasingly forced to deal with frustrated and angry people during service delivery protests. He said that on average 30 protest incidents every day in South Africa require police presence‚ and that five of these turn violent.
“When the expectations from government are not met politicians are nowhere to be seen‚” said Burger. “The only representatives of the government that these frustrated angry people see are the police.”
“It is difficult for the police to be everywhere in the full glare of public attention‚ with social media putting everything they do under the magnifying glass.
“Sometimes [the police] get it wrong because they face frustrated people and overreact.”
Burger said that police resources had not kept up with a 90% increase in violent incidents requiring police presence.
“The police cannot avoid responsibility for the maintenance of public order‚ but our political leaders are making a potentially fatal mistake if they think that additional or more forceful policing is the answer to growing instances of community protest‚” said Burger.
Government turning cops into ‘enemies of the people’: COPE
Police are being stressed out and politicised by having to quell widespread service delivery protests that should be prevented by politicians‚ the Congress of the People (COPE) said in a statement.
“The very appearance of the police raises tension and unleashes violence‚” said COPE spokesperson Dennis Bloem.
He said the government needed to consider the repercussions of turning the police into “enemies of the people”.
“The people want to see their political representatives and not the police‚” said Bloem. “They come in as a last resort after all political negotiations fail.”
At the State of the Nation Address earlier this year‚ police were brought in to escort Economic Freedom Fighters members out of Parliament.
Institute for Security Studies senior researcher Dr Johan Burger agreed that there were indications of political interference within the criminal justice system and that police faced more stress.
He said the police are increasingly forced to deal with frustrated and angry people during service delivery protests. He said that on average 30 protest incidents every day in South Africa require police presence‚ and that five of these turn violent.
“When the expectations from government are not met politicians are nowhere to be seen‚” said Burger. “The only representatives of the government that these frustrated angry people see are the police.”
“It is difficult for the police to be everywhere in the full glare of public attention‚ with social media putting everything they do under the magnifying glass.
“Sometimes [the police] get it wrong because they face frustrated people and overreact.”
Burger said that police resources had not kept up with a 90% increase in violent incidents requiring police presence.
“The police cannot avoid responsibility for the maintenance of public order‚ but our political leaders are making a potentially fatal mistake if they think that additional or more forceful policing is the answer to growing instances of community protest‚” said Burger.
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