Public Order Policing should be prioritised
The Portfolio Committee on Police says the top management of the South African Police Service should ensure that the requisite resources and support are provided to Public Order Policing Units (POPs) across the country.
“The President and the Cabinet at large have identified Public Order Policing as critical element of policing in South Africa and have said it should be treated as a priority in terms of resource allocation and requisite support,” Committee Chairperson Mr Francois Beukman said.
The Committee expressed this view at today’s assessment of the Mpumalanga (POPs) unit in Hazyview, where it heard and saw the unfavourable conditions members of POPs were working under.
Committee members expressed shock at hearing that there was a limited number of functional ‘Nyalas’ (Vehicles used to disperse crowds and blockades during Public Order Policing) servicing the entire Mpumalanga province. According to SAPS Provincial Management, some of the Nyalas had broken down and have been at garages for repairs, for longer periods.
The consequences of not having sufficient Nyalas, according to the Committee, include exposing public order police officers to danger, especially when attending to violent unrests.
“Internal processes of ensuring that these vehicles are fixed and functional need to be sorted out, as a matter of urgency. We are approaching local government elections next year and trends have shown that community unrests tend to increase during this period. Our police officers need to be adequately equipped to contain such,” added Mr Beukman.
The state of the building where members of the POPs operated from was not in a good condition. Procurement of laptops and cell phones for members of the Public Order Policing Unit was taking long and hampered the manner operations were carried out.
The Committee said it will also engage the national leadership of SAPS to ensure that matters of training, procurement of technological devices and proper accommodation for members of the POPs are attend to, speedily.
“We want these matters sorted out so as to ensure that the police officers responsible for maintaining public order do their job in the most effective way. Containing community unrests, especially violent ones, is not an easy thing and these officers need every support they can get,” added Mr Beukman.
Tomorrow (Thursday 5 Feb), the Committee will conduct an inspection at the Nelspruit Police Station. The inspection is scheduled to start at 9h30.
For media enquiries or interviews with the Chairperson, please contact:
Temba Gubula
Cell: 078 735 8809
Tel: 021 403 8307
E-mail: tgubula@parliament.gov.za
