Deadly policing a danger to us all

Sunday Times Editorial: The killing of a man linked by police to a service-delivery protest in Ficksburg has shocked the nation. Andries Tatane was shot and beaten to death in full view of an SABC television crew. Video footage of the killing was broadcast on the SABC's prime-time news bulletin.

The incident has drawn widespread condemnation, including a strongly worded statement by the ANC's Jackson Mthembu.

He said the incident could only be described "as resembling apartheid-era police strong-arm tactics, showing total disregard for human rights enshrined in the South African constitution".

It was a statement which is deserving of close examination.

Mthembu was juxtaposing the actions of the police with the protection of human rights contained in the constitution.

This is a long-overdue repudiation of those in the government and the police who appear to regard the constitution as an obstacle to effective policing.

This camp has held sway in the government's security cluster under the government of President Jacob Zuma.

One of their first acts was to re-militarise the police service, which they renamed the "police force".

Ranks were dished out, and commissioner Bheki Cele awarded himself the rank of general - even Muammar Gaddafi was happy to settle for the lower rank of colonel - and proceeded to stoke up within the police force the notion that they were to use their weapons more freely.

At the time, the move drew strong criticism from the ANC's Kader Asmal, who wrote a letter to this newspaper in which he asked: "Has the cabinet taken leave of its senses?"

Asmal went on: "I have news for them. If they want to travel along the road where law enforcement is perceived as the enemy of the people, they will have to deal with the constitution. Under section 205, the police are described as a service (my emphasis), and under subsection (3), they are enjoined to uphold and enforce the law, which would involve strict adherence to the constitution."

Asmal was ignored, and the bodies began to pile up. Some of these bodies were those of "suspected criminals" shot dead at roadblocks. The public committed the cardinal mistake of shrugging and looking the other way.

What the SABC's broadcast did was to remind this country of the terrible consequences of a police force which believes itself to be a law unto itself.

Mthembu's statement went on to criticise the SABC for broadcasting the images, which was a pity.

Tatane's tragic death has woken this nation up to the extent to which the values of the new South Africa have been eroded by careless policy making.

It is time to return to the values that make us great.