South Africans have a problem with their police. This is a long-standing and well-documented situation, and Corruption Watch is just one organisation that has done extensive research and analysis in this area. Our police campaign ran for several years, and our online police tool Veza (a colloquial term for ‘reveal’ or ‘expose’) allows users to report their experiences, whether good or bad, with police officers and to be informed about the staff numbers, resources, and facilities of their local police station.
The aim of Veza is to improve transparency and accountability and address the culture of corruption in the South African Police Service (Saps).
Another organisation that does work in this area is Afrobarometer, and in mid-August it released a new dispatch exploring people’s experiences and assessments of police professionalism.
The report coincided with the 12th commemoration of the Marikana atrocity, where in 2012 Saps members killed 34 striking platinum mineworkers in “the most brutal display of repression of dissent since the country’s transition to democracy”, said Afrobarometer, and injured 78 more. A subsequent commission of inquiry absolved political figures involved of any culpability.
One of those political figures was the current first citizen, President Cyril Ramaphosa, who was at that time the country’s deputy president and a member of the board of Lonmin, the mining company against whom the miners were striking. He was “heavily involved in escalating the confrontation”, Afrobarometer said, but managed to claim the top government leadership spot despite the controversy.
Other incidents of police brutality in the country, such as those witnessed during the 2020 Covid-19 lockdown, the continued failure to curb crime, and high levels of corruption experienced at the hands of the Saps, have severely eroded citizens’ confidence in those who are sworn to serve and protect them.
As a result, citizens tend to express little or no trust in the police. Significant majorities of Afrobarometer respondents said police officers at least “sometimes” engage in criminal activities, stop drivers without good reason, and use excessive force in dealing with criminals and in managing protests.
Part of the Saps Code of Conduct states that members will:
- “uphold and protect the fundamental rights of every person;
- act impartially, courteously, honestly, respectfully, transparently and in an accountable manner;
- exercise the powers conferred upon us in a responsible and controlled manner; and
- work actively towards preventing any form of corruption and to bring the perpetrators thereof to justice”.
However, “Only one in four citizens say the police generally operate in a professional manner, and only one in 10 thinks the government is doing a good job of reducing crime”.
In fact, the overwhelming majority (88%) of South Africans told Afrobarometer that the government’s efforts in terms of crime reduction are poor. Of these, 73% said the performance was “very bad”. The overall opinion has dropped 27 percentage points since 2011, from 38% to a paltry 11%.
Corrupt activities
People encounter the Saps in various situations during their daily lives, whether to assist with document certification, report crime, get advice, ask for help, or any number of other situations. A fifth, or 21% of respondents said they requested police assistance during the preceding year. Twice as many (43%) encountered the police in other situations, such as at checkpoints, during identity checks or traffic stops, or during an investigation.
Of those who approached the police for help, nearly half (45%) said they had trouble in getting the necessary assistance, with 33% saying it was difficult, and 12% saying it was very difficult to gain the cooperation of Saps.
Nearly one-fifth, or 18%, reported having to bribe an officer to get help, while 81% said they did not pay a bribe.
Of those who encountered the police in other types of situations, 25% reported having had to pay a bribe, give a gift, or do a favour to avoid problems – 3% of these said they had to do this “often” during the previous year.
In terms of the perception of corruption in the Saps, 61% of respondents said that “most/all” police are corrupt. This compares (un)favourably with perceptions of widespread corruption in the Presidency (65%), Parliament (63%), and local government (60%). Only 31% of respondents thought that “some” of the police were corrupt.
Demographics also come into play in terms of the perception of this specific type of corruption. Urban residents are more likely to perceive the police as corrupt than are rural residents (63% vs. 58%), and young and middle-aged respondents (both 63%) are more likely to harbour this perception than are the elderly (54%).
Furthermore, citizens with a lower level of education (57%) are less likely to perceive widespread police corruption than those who are more educated (62%-63%). And white South Africans (54%) are less likely to perceive it than Coloured (64%) and Black (63%) citizens. Age and lived poverty are also influencing factors.
However, the average in terms of all the demographics taken together is 62% of people who believe the police are corrupt.
Trust deficit
South Africa’s government entities, for the most part, have earned little trust from the public, especially over the past decade and a half. The police are right up there with the untrustworthy, and citizens are vocal in their levels of distrust.
Just one-third (32%) of South Africans said they trust the police “somewhat” (21%) or “a lot” (11%), while more than four in 10 (43%) reported no trust at all. Only 1% said they didn’t know or did not give a response.
Since 2011 the percentage of respondents who indicated that they don’t trust the police “at all” has risen from 18% in that year to a high of 48% in 2011, before declining by five points in 2022 to 43%.
Again, demographics have an influence on levels of trust in the police. Rural residents (40%) and older respondents (37%) are more trusting than those in urban areas (28%) and younger (30%-32%) people. White citizens (50%) are far more trusting than Coloured (29%) and Black (30%) South Africans.
In short, Afrobarometer concluded, there is “widespread concern about the state of the South African Police Service. Majorities of citizens express little or no trust in the police, think most officers are corrupt, and see them as failing to conduct themselves fairly and professionally”.
The organisation added that this negativity will undermine efforts to prevent and reduce crime.
