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IPUSA calls for Saps to adequately resource all police stations with necessary resources to fight escalating crime and GBV

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IPUSA calls for Saps to adequately resource all police stations with necessary resources to fight escalating crime and GBV

IPUSA calls for Saps to adequately resource all police stations with necessary resources to fight escalating crime and GBV

12th August 2022

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As we continue to commemorate the brave women who marched to the Union buildings 66 years ago, to fight against the apartheid law which needed all south africans defined as black to carry their internal passport which its aims was to maintain segregation, control urbanization, and manage migrant labor during the apartheid, IPUSA laments the treatment that is meted out against women through Rapes, Domestic related crimes, femicides and Genda Based Violence (GBV). We cannot celebrate our women without condemning the barbaric acts meted out against them and therefore call upon the communities at large to unite in the fight against these terrible tendences and reject outright the continued assault of our members and the destruction of SAPS resources which are in fact there to serve them. 

As we lambast with contempt this brutal act against women, IPUSA would like to dispute the notion out there that our Police Officers do not have the necessary skills to deal with GBV, femicides and Domestic related crimes. In fact, our members are adequately trained yet they are let down by the system they are working under. It is a well-known fact that SAPS is under-resourced both in human and material resources, and as such, our members are overwhelmed and drained by the current situation. Hence, we as IPUSA commend them for continuing to strive to serve our community in this dire strait. 

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Perceived failures of the Police must be pointed directly at the doorsteps of the SAPS management, as there are no longer programs aimed at enhancing our members skills and knowledge. We are lucky to still see successful prosecution in court in some of the reported cases because the difference between GBV and normal crime is the involvement of suspects who may either be of male or female gender to the victim or related to. This led to another point which suggest what kind of treatment these victims should get from the Police Bethuel Nephtal Nkuna (President), Glen Mahwayi (Deputy President), Mpho Kwinika (General Secretary), Les Sechele (Deputy General Secretary), Mosaraki Bogodile (National Organizer), Mbhazima Daniel Ndlovu (National Head of Members Affairs) to avoid second victimizations. Otherwise, the investigation method is the same. These include providing shelter to the victims which brings another challenge of availability as the police do not manage those facilities. 

The human resource shortage is one aspect which must be taken seriously as the Police-Population ratio is so agonizingly overwhelming, leaving SAPS helpless in overcoming this war against crime in general. So, is very sad for the Rape victim to be told by the Client Service Center to wait for the vehicle to take him /her to the hospital, only to find that the very same vehicle the victim is waiting for, is currently engaged on other complaints, viewed by another complainant as important as this one. Now police are forced to follow a que (enquiry), registered complaints. This kind of complaints shows the turn around times police took to attend and finalize them. If you take more time to attend to these crimes, there is a great likelihood that you may be defaulted. Returning late to attend to GBV related crimes such as Rape, Assaults, etc. falls under the category of disservice to our communities and create a perception that police don’t care which may also lend them in hot water as well. 

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It is IPUSA’s believe that if we want to satisfy our communities, we need to ensure that our Resource Allocation Guide (RAG) is always maintained. To achieve this, SAPS must build in their budget, funds to maintain existing fleet and to replace those out of service within a specific financial year. Same with human resource, built in the budget to replace members who will leave the service through dismissals, resignations, death, etc. which is about 5000 per year. Currently SAPS wait for new budget to buy and recruit new members and the budget is forever not enough because the burden is very huge for it to cover all these shortages. If we achieve this, our community needs won’t be compromised, and our members will also not be exposed to any unnecessary pressure, as it is the situation now. 

The shortage of Rape kits (DNA) is another cause of concern as the DNA samples takes forever and victims end up not getting justice. The Krugersdorp incident is one that comes to mind where over 80 alleged suspects are detained and await the DNA results, yet the matter has been turned into a war against the so -called Zama-Zamas while overshadowing the rape incident which must take priority if we are to ensure that these criminals are brought to book with concrete evidence which will link them to the crime scene. 

We call upon the SAPS to stop giving a reactive kind of services to South Africans where you see them having special operations in front of the cameras only when a major unfortunate incident has occurred and then vanish immediately when the media hype is gone, leaving stations and our members to suffer with same challenges they had before. We call upon all members of the public to take registration plates of deployed vehicles so that when they are used elsewhere, they will be able to identify them. 

 

Issued by IPUSA President Bethuel Nkuna

 

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