Ficksburg probe complete soon - ICD

This was according to Independent Complaints Directorate spokesperson Moses Dlamini, speaking after the appearance of six public order policemen in the Ficksburg Regional Court in connection with the death of Tatane. The men face charges of assault and murder.The case against Olebogeng Mphirime, Tehedi Moeketsie, Jonas Skosana and Mphonyane Ntaje, facing charges of assault, and Isreal Moiloa and Mothusi Maqana, facing charges of murder, was postponed to 26 April for bail hearings. Full report on the News24 site

Tatane's death has raised questions about which way the police force is going under National Commissioner Bheki Cele. Observers have noted the increasing brutality of the police force over the past few years, notes a Mail & Guardian Online report. In 2009, Cele raised eyebrows when he called for a change to legislation that would allow police offers greater freedom to shoot at suspects. Cele, who also reorganised the police force to reflect greater militarisation and a more army-like structure, was supported by both the Police Minister and President Jacob Zuma in his call to 'shoot to kill'. In its 2010 annual report, the ICD said it had investigated 1 769 cases of people dying in police custody or as a result of police action. The ICD said that in the Free State alone, seven suspects died while being arrested and 47 died as a result of police action or in police custody. Despite this, Free State police maintain that Tatane's death was an isolated incident. David Bruce, a senior researcher with the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, has said that the incident should not be viewed in isolation but rather as a manifestation of a systemic problem. 'This incident (reaffirms) evidence of an emerging pattern of brutality by police responding to service delivery demonstrations ... at a time when the number of killings and serious non-fatal assaults by police are at extremely high levels,' he is quoted as saying in media reports. Full Mail & Guardian Online report

The problem appears to have been recognised by Zuma, who condemned the incident yesterday . A report in The Mercury quotes him as saying: 'If you see what happened in Ficksburg, that man was just standing, carrying nothing in his hands, totally nothing. ...The fact that they even kill the person, so many of them beating one person, it indicates a very strange mentality in terms of the police force.' Full report in The Mercury

It was only a matter of time before the SAPS were caught on camera engaging in the type of gratuitous brutality which has become routine among many of its members, according to Mary de Haas, who runs the KZN Violence Monitor, in an article in The Mercury. She points out that countless cases of assault, tubing (near-suffocation) and damage to property never reach the public spotlight because the victims are poor and powerless. 'In their actions these police members - and the management responsible for their conduct - place themselves above, and show contempt for, the highest law of the land, our Constitution,' De Haas says. Full article in The Mercury (subscription needed)