GOOD statement by Brett Herron,
GOOD: Secretary-General and Member of Provincial Parliament
10 January 2022
A City of Cape Town law enforcement officer allegedly responding to a complaint that homeless people were cooking a meal outdoors shot a homeless man in the face in Rondebosch. The as-yet-unnamed man died at the scene in Chester Road.
Coming hot on the heels of the conviction in November 2021 of Morne Horn, a City of Cape Town law enforcement officer convicted for murdering an undercover police officer in Long Street – and questions put to National Police Minister Bheki Cele last week about the legality of the City’s shadowy special investigations unit – the Rondebosch killing re-sounds the alarm about the integrity of the City’s law enforcement efforts.
The Western Cape Safety Plan is underpinned by the City of Cape Town LEAP (Law Enforcement Advancement Plan) that aims to put 1000 Learner Law Enforcement Officers, armed with firearms, onto our streets – with the objective of halving the murder rate.
These Learner Law Enforcement Officers are deployed after only six weeks training compared to a SAPS Learner Constable who is deployed after 12 months of academy training, before performing an additional 12 months as a Learner Constable. The City’s firearm training is apparently only three weeks long.
Their deployment is strongly reminiscent of PW Botha’s so-called “kitskonstabels”, instant cops with virtually no training who were sent out to crush the resistance to apartheid in the 1980s.
We have been unable to verify if the Rondebosch shooter was a learner officer. We are told he has been arrested.
According to information at GOOD’s disposal, City Law Enforcement officials responded to a complaint from a resident about a small fire on which members of the regular local homeless community in Rondebosch were cooking a meal. The officers instructed the homeless people to extinguish it.
There was a scuffle over the dousing of the fire, at which point a homeless person was shot in the face by a law enforcement officer.
The incident raises more disturbing questions about the City’s Municipal Police Service and its conduct. The dangerous conditions under which many communities live are made even more dangerous by uniformed but undertrained law enforcement officers.
Shooting someone dead over a pot of food also, once again, underscores the DA-led City’s deplorable victimisation of homeless people.
The Mayor must please explain the actions of his law enforcement officers.
Real crime-prevention and crime-fighting are not achieved by under-trained, unaccountable enforcement – which bears the hallmarks of vigilantism. Crime fighting requires lawfulness, discipline, training and accountability.
Media enquiries:
Brett Herron, GOOD: Secretary-General
Cell: 082 5183264
Email: bretth@forgood.org.za
Samkelo Mgobozi, GOOD: Media Manager
Cell: 0792315977 (whatsapp)/0829684021 (calls)
Email: samm@forgood.org.za