By Alani Janeke
Police members leaking information about security operations, keeping watch over areas where stock thieves are active, deliberately taking poor statements, or distorting witnesses’ and complainants’ statements are just a few of the misdeeds by police members highlighted in the study.
Three members of the South African Police Service recently completed a study on how police service delivery and their involvement in crime in rural areas is viewed. Some rural communities will not be surprised that the impressions of the police in this study are predominantly negative.
The study was undertaken after Bheki Cele, former Minister of Police, hosted a rural safety summit in Parys in the Free State in 2022. Relevant stakeholders, those involved in security and safety in rural environments, and various organised agriculture and non-governmental organisations were present.
At the summit, farmers expressed their concern about the police’s inability to protect them and the possible involvement of stock theft officers in the crimes they were investigating. These concerns led to the study to explore policing at a local level in rural areas to investigate the farmers’ concerns and to look at ways in which the tension with police could be managed and handled better.
Kobus Schwartz, who has been with the police for 35 years and is one of the authors of the report, says the general aim of the study was to explore the phenomenon of farm attacks and murders of farmers and/or people living on farms and in rural areas in South Africa. They attempted to suggest ways to improve rural safety to reduce the attacks and murders.
Lesiba Calvin Malane and Mogau Mamabolo are the co-authors of the report. Mamabolo has been in the police for 15 years, while Malane has been a member of the police’s civilian secretariat for the past two years after being a police officer for five years. They have a combined 55 years of policing experience.
Nearly 200 participants in seven provinces
Focus group and personal interviews were conducted with 197 participants in Limpopo, Mpumalanga, the Free State, Western Cape, Eastern Cape, North West and KwaZulu-Natal.
A total of 56 farmers, 52 members of community policing forums, 21 private security companies serving as farm guards, and 73 police officers participated in the study, after which the data was analysed.
Schwartz says there is usually not much resistance among police members to research authorised by the national commissioner. They noted that station commanders were often absent from the interviews due to management obligations. Other senior officers were delegated to speak with them.
“We found this somewhat strange at times, but there was no open resistance to the research. On the contrary, the police members were eager to provide their input. We suspected this was due to their dissatisfaction because there are too few resources to do their work.”
Data collection began in August 2022, and the final interviews were conducted in November. The report was completed in March 2023, and the study was published in November 2024 in Acta Criminologica, the African Journal of Criminology and Victimology.
Trends identified by farmers
Schwartz says it was notable how traumatic incidents of livestock theft are for farmers and how long they remembered the details. “A farmer from Mpumalanga, for example, told us of livestock stolen 20 years ago. He repeatedly brought up the police’s inability to find his animals and referred to the incident repeatedly. Another farmer in the same area lost about 200 cattle in a fire, but it appeared that he handled that loss better.”
Farmers generally referred more to poor service delivery by the police than to new crime trends.
“Some farmers said the attacks on farms are politically or racially driven, but other farmers in the same focus groups disagreed. According to the second group of farmers, the farm attacks have more to do with the vulnerability of farmers on their farms, which includes the level of security, location, access routes, the predictability of farmers’ movements, the perception of cash being held on farms, and the vulnerability of people living on farms.”
Schwartz says many farmers also recognised and thanked police members who had assisted them. “Good cooperation was also mentioned, but it was clear that only certain police members were trusted, regardless of skin colour or gender. Farmers and farm guards indicated that although they don’t trust all police members, their farm safety is much better when the rural safety structures operate well and all stakeholders cooperate.”
Findings
The study’s findings indicate that police corruption in rural and farming communities is widespread and takes many forms. It includes police officers leaking information to criminals about planned police operations. Cases were also reported of deliberate delays in assisting victims, deliberately poor recording of statements about a scene in a dossier, and the distortion of witness or complainant statements.
Other issues highlighted were the inadequate handling of crime scenes where livestock was slaughtered, securing escape routes for stock thieves, and situations where some police members watch areas where stock thieves are active.
The findings show that perceptions about the police can be divided into 40% who are perceived to work ethically and 60% who are lazy or corrupt. The report states that “corrupt police officers provide poor service and cause frustrations for clients and their colleagues”.
The findings in the study underscore the problematic nature of corruption in the police at a grassroots level in rural areas and encourage police management to take steps to reduce the severe impact on the organisation, as well as service delivery.”
According to Schwartz, the findings were presented to the relevant senior officers in the SAPS Visible Policing Division involved with rural safety.
“The study also examined the extent of the implementation of the national rural security strategy and highlighted gaps in its implementation. These findings were used to conduct further visits to rural police stations during which the implementation was monitored.”
A recommendation was also made to the crime intelligence division to conduct more covert investigations in rural police stations.
“Since then, we have arrested quite a few corrupt members. Because covert investigations were requested, we cannot see a direct connection between the actions and the findings and recommendations of the study, but arrests did occur in the areas where the study was conducted.”
