Even though it is the officers who carry out the physical force, it is our prejudice that lays fertile ground for the abuse of power to entrench itself
police brutality
Posted inEquality
Gasping for hope
Despite overwhelming support for Black Lives Matter, we feel hopeless — racial equality is more dream than reality and racism has never been enough for people to take to the streets
Posted inGeneral
#FeesMustFall is unravelling SA’s founding pact
Post-1994 South Africa is founded on the principle of progressive access to privilege. This principle implies that those in the suburbs will continue to live there while those in shacks will be progressively admitted into the ranks of those with houses and amenities. It also implies that those that earn decent salaries will continue to […]
Posted inNews/Politics
‘You are killing your children’
November 13 was a cool summer’s night. Students and university workers gathered in the park over the road from the University of Johannesburg to partake in a peaceful vigil against police brutality and in continuation of the #FeesMustFall protest. They hoped it would not rain as the vigil was to last a few hours. A […]
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
We seemed like a leaderless country yesterday. Who will stand up?
I left my office opposite Parliament (I work at the Human Sciences Research Council in Plein Street) after I heard the first stun grenade. The first thing I thought about was Marikana. I couldn’t just stand by if students — many of whom I teach — were going to be hurt by police. I followed […]
Posted inNews/Politics
SAPS, try not to get sued
When SAPS tabled its 2013/14 annual report, the media was quick to pick up on the massive amount for contingency liabilities; a total of R20.5 billion. This represents just under 30% of the total 2013/14 SAPS budget. Contingency liabilities are all claims pending against SAPS, and might or might not result in payment when the claim […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Crime’s wake-up call…
My five days back in SA from the UK: one foiled armed carjacking, one petrol bomb hurled at a house, an armed carjacking and house robbery — all within a 400m radius of my house. Let’s not forget an alleged dealer’s friend looking to intimidate me within earshot of the cops. I live in a […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Lynching black men
On March 1 we watched in disbelief and horror as a young Mozambican man, Mido Macia, was forcibly handcuffed to the back of a police van and dragged behind the vehicle as he cried out for them to stop. When the car eventually arrived at the police station eyewitnesses say he was further beaten by […]
Posted inGeneral
Rethinking the police
From the infamous LAPD to London’s notorious Special Patrol Group and even further back — two centuries ago to the first ever newspaper reports of “police brutality” — all police forces exist along a continuum of violence. Leaving corruption aside South Africa’s police tend towards the direst part. We may not have the death penalty […]
Posted inGeneral
“That’s what you get when you mix with the blacks”
By Charles Leonard Every year on this day I think of my riot policeman – the one who tried to kill me the day then-president FW de Klerk announced the unbanning of the African National Congress (ANC), the South African Communist Party and the Pan Africanist Congress, and that he was going to release ANC […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Crush Occupy Rondebosch Common
It’s been a glorious summer in Cape Town. The heatwave had one and all at swimming pools and beaches all over the Cape. Long Street was packed with clubbers and tourists from all over the world. Drinks flowed freely: Hennessy, Bacardi, Hunters, Carling, you name it. Sadly, it was spoiled by talk of our beloved […]