Attempts by national police commissioner Gen Khehla Sitole and KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi to explain the police failures during the July riots in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, descended into recrimination this week.
Though they differed in their response to questions put to them at the South African Human Rights Commission hearing into the unrest — Sitole gave long-winded answers in contrast to Mkhwanazi’s blunt retorts — both men revealed that the police force is out of touch with what is happening in SA.
They admitted police had no intelligence before the unrest, despite social media posts warning of impending violence.
Police minister Bheki Cele, who testified on Friday, spoke of a force that had lost its way. He blamed Sitole, but insisted his relationship with the national commissioner was not frosty.
“When I was national commissioner, I pulled a team. I pulled everybody together. I minimised every and any conflict. I had a wonderful team,” said Cele.
He was the last witness during the panel’s sitting in KwaZulu-Natal before it resumes in Gauteng in February.
A rambling Cele said nothing about the cause of the unrest, the failure of police or the looting, and had to be reminded by the evidence leader to present his evidence in the sequence in which events occurred.
The minister’s statement, submitted to the commission last week, was far stronger, saying Sitole had failed.
Responding to Cele’s statement to the commission that he hadn’t received any intelligence report from police before or during the unrest, Sitole on Tuesday said no intelligence report was produced before the outbreak of violence in July.
He agreed with Cele that police had made little effort to plan for the unrest.
Neither Sitole nor Mkhwanazi could explain why they didn’t act swiftly when thousands of people swarmed into stores, malls and businesses, looting and destroying them.
Sitole was accused of missing in action during the unrest and not providing information to Cele. He then shocked evidence leaders when he said he didn’t know the number of victims killed in the racially motivated attacks in Phoenix during the unrest. But Sitole didn’t bat an eyelid when asked if he was fit to lead SA’s police force.
“I can still do the job,” he said.
Mkhwanazi, on the other hand, was blunt in his response to questions about the death of 36 people in Phoenix.
“We are talking about 36 murders in Phoenix at this time, but in this financial year which started in April, to date, how many people were killed in Phoenix? You will be shocked that the number of murders in Phoenix is not coming anywhere close to next door, which is Inanda,” he told the hearing.
What must the police do? Yes, we take the blame. We fire the rest of the police because society doesn’t like them, employ new police officers. We are still going to get the same results until we get to the bottom of the problem. The problem is society
“Inanda is known for rapes and all these other crimes that you have. The very same communities that are crying about the murders that happened in Phoenix slaughter each other every single day.
“So, we ask ourselves a question, what is the problem? What must the police do? Yes, we take the blame. We fire the rest of the police because society doesn’t like them, employ new police officers. We are still going to get the same results until we get to the bottom of the problem. The problem is society.”
He didn’t hold back when asked for the “real story” behind former defence minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula’s allegation that he was uncooperative, disrespectful and absent during the riots in KwaZulu-Natal.
He said he had called out Mapisa-Nqakula for lying when she said 800 SA National Defence Force soldiers were deployed in the province, and she had “become personal”.
Mkhwanazi disputed Mapisa-Nqakula’s claim that he was absent at the height of the unrest.
He said he went to Pretoria for the birth of his child before heading back to KwaZulu-Natal, while Mapisa-Nqakula was at a five-star hotel leading “some operation”.
Mkhwanazi’s deputy, Major-Gen Phumelele Makoba, who had been in charge while he was on leave, confirmed Mkhwanazi’s evidence. He said the police hadn’t been invited to the hotel where SANDF and the minister were supposedly having meetings.
On Friday, Cele was in Mkhwanazi’s corner. “From my side, I didn’t detect anything untoward from the PC ... [he] was straight and glued to his fact,” he said.
Unlike Sitole, Mkhwanazi took responsibility for the loss of life, but said there was nothing in the police assessments that could lead to action against police management and station commanders for the deaths.
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