As Khayelitsha inquiry closes, crucial police documents still not submitted

On Thursday all parties represented at the Inquiry had an opportunity to submit their final arguments.

When the Inquiry ended at 1pm, the spectators in the packed hall started to sing the national anthem. It was an emotional day for the activists involved. Many hugged and congratulated each other.

The final report of the Inquiry is due to be given to Premier Helen Zille on 11 July. Zille is then expected to submit the report to the newly appointed Minister of Police, Nkosinathi Nhleko.

The Inquiry’s mandate was to investigate allegations of police inefficiency and a breakdown in relations between the community and the police in Khayelitsha.

Justice Kate O’Regan, who presided over the Inquiry with Advocate Vusi Pikoli, repeated today what she said at the onset, that the Inquiry “isn’t about blame-laying, fault-finding or politicking.”

Today the police acknowledged that there have been inefficiencies in policing. However, Advocate Norman Arendse, representing SAPS, said that to say there was a breakdown in police-community relations was untrue.

Arendse stated that the police would not agree with statements that there is no policing in Khayelitsha, or that the Khayelitsha police are incompetent. He said that there is a high level of crime in Khayelitsha, and that there may have been poor policing and police inefficiencies which have contributed to this. He also said, “There is law and order in the area of Khayelitsha. That law and order is maintained by SAPS … The police hold the line between law and order and chaos.”

Justice O’Regan in her response to Arendse highlighted that the police had failed, by the end of the Inquiry, to submit Crime Threat Analysis reports. These documents are a key part of crime intelligence, and should be used to inform evidence-led policing. O’Regan stated that if these documents were not submitted before the Inquiry finalised its report, the Inquiry would conclude that no crime threat analysis is happening in Khayelitsha.

During the hearings, the police at times suggested that policing in informal spaces such as Khayelitsha is impossible. In her closing remarks O’Regan said, “It is constitutionally unacceptable to say that it is impossible to police Khayelitsha. We cannot tell people they are not able to receive acceptable levels of policing.”

With the Inquiry ending, residents of Khayelitsha get into taxis and return to their lives. Will the Inquiry result in real changes for those who live in Khayelitsha?

For the complainant organisations, Advocate Ncumisa Mayosi stated that based on the evidence submitted by community members, it is not possible for the Inquiry to find that there has not been a breakdown in police-community relations. She described the police as unresponsive to community needs, and said that they treated the community with disrespect, discourtesy and contempt. She also stated that it is difficult to repair trust in a complex relationship such as the one between the police and the residents of Khayelitsha.

Also for the complainant organisations, Advocate Michael Bishop, referred to evidence submitted by Jean Redpath and Brigadier Leon Rabie, when he said, “Resource allocation in Khayelitsha is irrational.” He noted that the provincial police commissioner General Arno Lamoer acknowledged the irrationality of resource allocation. Bishop said that resource allocation has not changed since apartheid, with low-crime, wealthy, previously designated white areas being given proportionally more than high-crime, poor, previously designated black areas.