Experts recommend independent inquiry into police killing of suspects in KZN

Policing experts believe an independent inquiry into the killing of suspects by police in KwaZulu-Natal could determine if police are within their rights to retaliate and kill alleged violent criminals.

This is in the wake of recent violent killings of suspects in the province with experts saying policing there could be extremely dangerous given the immense number of illegal guns circulating among criminals.

Addressing the media on Wednesday, police commissioner Fannie Masemola reiterated that police are often met with heavy gunfire and that leaves them with no option but to defend themselves and the communities they serve.

This comes a week after police minister Senzo Mchunu announced his militant stance towards violent crimes, warning that shooting a police officer is a “declaration of war”. 

“The message is don't fight, don't shoot, and don't be violent against police, they are the only legitimate defence on behalf of the people. We are ready for any criticism if there are failures on our side, we can tackle those,” he told the Sunday Times this week.

In his briefing on Wednesday, Masemola clarified that the police mandate was to bring perpetrators to justice by arresting them, but often in pursuit of arresting them, police are confronted with gunfire.

He said they have listened to the concerns of the experts and communities about the number of suspects that have been shot and killed by police in KZN in recent months.

“On Tuesday evening, our members in KZN were tracing suspects who were linked and wanted in at least 13 cases of business robbery and car hijacking in the Cato Manor and Durban Central policing precinct when they were met with gunfire.

“Five suspects were fatally wounded and fortunately no police officer was injured in the attack,” he said. He added that last week, KZN police shot and killed nine suspects in various incidents.

“In all these incidents, police were met with gunfire and various kinds of high-calibre firearms were seized including automatic rifles. All these suspects were wanted in connection with serious and violent crimes including murders and ATM bombings,” he said.

In the incident in KwaDlangezwa in Empangeni, the three suspects who succumbed to their injuries were wanted and linked to at least 10 cases of murder in the province.

“It is on this note that we urge criminals to surrender themselves when called to do so by police ... when criminals fire with live ammunition, we have no choice but to defend ourselves. With this said, we will continue to use force that is proportional to the threat,” he said. 

Independent policing expert Johan Burger said an independent investigation conducted by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) was needed to determine whether their actions were justifiable.

He said police have a responsibility to identify and arrest suspects that are involved in serious and violent crimes such as cash-in-transit robberies. He said police are obliged to fight crime as stipulated in the constitution. 

“It is a constitutional obligation to do what is necessary to combat crime. That includes identifying and arresting criminals — that is the responsibility of the police.

“The problem for the police now is that these criminals are not going to lie down, and in most of these cases they are not going to hand themselves over simply because the police want to arrest them,” he said.

Burger said the difficulty for the police is that they are confronted with dangerous criminals, people with no hesitation to become involved in a shoot-out with the police. He said criminals are simply prepared to shoot at the police in an attempt to evade arrest.

“You cannot negotiate with people when they are shooting at you. It is difficult.

“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,” he added. 

He said the number of incidents understandably raises questions.

Burger said Ipid is obligated by the act to independently investigate all the incidents where suspects are killed.

“If they find that police were not justified in shooting, or that they were not honest in their reports about what happened and why they had to use lethal force, then of course this is something that needs to be taken to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).

“Then it is the NPA's responsibility to decide on the evidence put before them by Ipid whether the police acted justifiably or whether they acted within the confines of the law,” he said. 

Criminologist Dr Guy Lamb said traditionally KZN has a high level of suspects being shot by police and is one of the provinces with an elevated level of violent crimes.

He said provinces like Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Gauteng also have high levels of violent crimes and one would expect police to use excessive force in those provinces. 

“KZN does stand out for the higher level of police shooting of suspects we have seen in recent years. There is also a huge number of illegal firearms in circulation that are in criminals' hands which makes policing very dangerous.

“Police do come under fire from suspects who they are pursuing or suspects who they have cornered in those settlements or houses. KZN does stand out in comparison with other provinces — there were no high incidents of police shooting suspects in the other three provinces,” he said. 

Lamb said what is happening in KZN is concerning as it shows that police are more prone to use their service pistols against alleged criminals. This could have increased the possibility that those who are innocent and haven't perpetrated a crime might be killed or injured by police.

He said the killing of suspects also hampers investigations because the evidence isn't gathered, intelligence is lost from those circumstances and police cannot get information on how those criminals plan their crimes, who they are connected to, and what criminals know about other types of criminal groups and individuals.

He said the suspected criminals that are killed in these shootings are usually connected to a wider network of kingpins and criminal leaders.

Lamb believes there is a need for a robust investigation by the provincial government and it would be ideal for the province to set up an inquiry into these killings. 

“It seems to be a pattern, there is a significant pattern growing there and the premier should ideally be looking to establish an investigation into this like what happened with the taxi industry and what happened with political assassinations.

“There should be an inquiry because they [provincial government] have a police oversight mandate. Their main mandate from the policing point of view of the constitution is to provide oversight of policing,” he said. 

He added KZN premier should take “serious steps and it is something that the government should be looking into”.

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