Shooting from the hip will not beat crime
Deputy Minister of Safety and Security Susan Shabangu has risen from
relative obscurity to become a household name after urging police to
disregard the law and "kill the bastards". That her comments found
favour with so many indicates just how hungry South Africans are for
the government to take action against crime.
Shabangu's call was backed by Jacob Zuma, although he was careful to
say that the police should act within the law. The irony of a man
about to appear at his own criminal trial calling for tougher action
against criminals is not lost on most South Africans.
Despite the recklessness of Shabangu's original comments (she has
since limited her shoot-to-kill stance to life threatening
situations), this attitudinal shift is encouraging. Her tough talk is
certainly preferable to the denial and obfuscation of Minister Nqakula
and President Mbeki.
But tough words must not be confused with tough and lawful action.
Pandering to populist sentiment with rhetoric will not beat crime if
it is not backed up with clear plans. What is required is an admission
that current government policy has not worked and the introduction of
a clear set of policy proposals to face the crisis head-on.
This approach might attract fewer headlines, but it might actually do
something to reduce crime.
One immediate and tangible step is the re-establishment of the
specialised crime-fighting units that have been disbanded. These
include Rural Safety Units, the Anti-Corruption Unit, the Child
Protection Units and the South African Narcotics Bureau.
Evidence shows that their closure has drastically reduced the state's
crime fighting efficacy. For example, when the Child Protection Units
were running, conviction rates for child abuse were at around 75%. Now
that the units have been closed, conviction rates have halved. Since
the South African Narcotics Bureau was disbanded in 2004, drug related
crimes have multiplied.
The same fate now awaits the Scorpions – the dissolution of which will
drastically reduce the capacity of the state to tackle organised crime
and the drug syndicates that operate with impunity in every major
urban centre. The fact that drug syndicates have allegedly bribed the
National Commissioner of Police indicates that we are well on our way
to becoming a narcotic state.
There is simply no conceivable way that incorporating the Scorpions
(with a conviction rate of around 90%) with the SAPS (which has
conviction rate of around 10%) can be a successful strategy.
For one thing, it will destroy the prosecution-led approach that has
made the Scorpions so successful. For another, experience has shown
that in mergers such as this, it is the best performer that is dragged
down to the level of the worst.
These facts are indisputable and the ANC has given no clear reason
(besides its personal anathema to the Scorpions) to disband the unit.
If Shabangu and her party want to show that they are tough on crime,
then they should desist from their plans to shelve the Scorpions.
The government should also start taking steps that empower citizens to
protect themselves. This is crucial in a country where the state
cannot do so.
One would be to initiate an urgent review of the Firearms Control Act
which places severe constraints on the rights of legal gun owners.
This law might have been appropriate in Canada (from where our law
comes), but its application has been cumbersome in South Africa due to
the incapacity of the police to process applications timeously and
efficiently.
To obtain or renew a firearm license in South Africa, one has to jump
through a number of bureaucratic hoops. Many of the onerous
requirements of the Act make sense, but by definition they only apply
to responsible, law-abiding citizens who, because of bureaucratic
inefficiencies, can wait months - and sometimes years - to obtain a
fire arm to defend themselves.
The vast majority of criminals on the other hand do not, and will not,
comply with these regulations. This goes some way to explain why there
are almost three times as many illegal firearms as there are legal
firearms in South Africa.
This is a classic example of instituting state of the art laws in a
context where we do not have the capacity to implement them
effectively. Given our constraints, it is appropriate that the
application of the Firearms Control Act is reviewed to ensure that
law-abiding gun owners are empowered to defend themselves and their
families.
Another way to empower citizens to protect themselves is to make
private security tax deductible, which has long been a policy of the
DA. Households should be given tax relief of up to R5 000 or 5 percent
(whichever is the greater) of taxable income spent by households on
verifiable private security-related expenses. This is one way to
compensate for the state's inability to adequately protect citizens.
The development of public-private sector partnerships must also be
encouraged. Where these have been implemented, they have shown to be
very effective, as the case of the Hout Bay Neighbourhood Watch
programme illustrates. Working in close consultation with the police,
this public-private partnership reduced crime by up to 60% in some
categories within the first two months of its formation.
Over the next few months, the DA will be undertaking a comprehensive
review of the state's capacity to fight crime. This will result in a
concrete, costed crime policy which will form part of our policy
platform for the next election.
It is all very well to talk tough on crime, but you need to have a
real plan to deal with it. While Shabangu's initial comments were
disturbing in that they gave scant regard to the law, it is
encouraging that the denialism and obfuscation of the Mbeki-era is on
its way out.
However, this needs to be replaced by frankness, honesty and the
political will to rectify policy failure. If Mbeki's denialism is
substituted with populist rhetoric that makes good headlines but
contains little substance, then we will have achieved very little.
Best Wishes
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