The Deputy Minister of Police, Maggie Sotyu
MEC for Community Safety, Dan Plato
The Executive Mayor
The National Commissioner, General Phiyega
Provincial Commissioner, General Lamoer
CPF Provincial board Chairperson
Community leaders
Ladies and gentleman
It is a pleasure to here today at this ceremony to open another police station. Had circumstances been different, this would have happened quite some time ago but we are here now.
We have a painful past and history that deserves to be told. And it should be told and retold so that we never relapse to that state of oppression which for a long time made police stations were a symbol of all that was wrong with our circumstance as black people.
Many a life was lost in police stations across the country as these edifices assumed a grotesque symbol and expression of oppression for many of our people. They became perhaps one of the most fearsome places for political activists and the general public who knew exactly what was going on in there. Hearing the piercing screams deep in the dungeons of the stations was not a novel experience.
But with the change in our circumstance – the move away from the oppressive regime to a democratic dispensation, police stations should be symbols of hope. They should become the embodiment of the National Development Plan’s ultimate aim of a safe society. The NDP merely reflects the exhortations from the real Congress of the People in 1955 when people of all hues said we demand a society that places human dignity above all and adopted the Freedom Charter.
These exhortations were further incorporated in our Constitution which is our supreme law placing the dignity of human beings above all else. It is when we embrace this that a police station becomes a symbol of safety, of community involvement and a rallying point for the betterment of a community.
It is said that that “just the presence of a police station can make a community or neighborhood safer, regardless of what's inside it”. A day is coming where our police will have in their possession all tools of trade - a laptop computer, cell phone and cameras for collecting evidence. In theory this would mean that a modern-day policeman or woman could do their jobs in their cars. However, the reality is there is still an important aspect of face-to-face communication with colleagues, criminals and the public that can only happen at a police station which makes it remain a vital part of public safety.
We are pleased therefore that we can now deliver this police station which not only will make the province a safer place but will become a place of hope where victims of crime – particularly domestic crime – will find refuge. This remains one of the most insidious crimes in our lifetime and we all have to do everything to fight and defeat this scourge. A home should never be a crime scene. Just yesterday, a husband killed a wife in a police station in Parkview, Johannesburg.
This is not what we are about. This is not what our country should be about. A police station should be the second place of safety after a home. It cannot be the second place of torture and death after a home.
What does this mean?
This means that all of us in society have a duty to make our country a safer place. It means that even though police stations and police officers may represent hope, there are just certain things that we cannot predict. It means that this country really needs to find another way of healing its traumas of the past and work towards a different future of safety. This nation needs to talk to itself on how best it wants to proceed as there can never be a policeman or woman in every household.
This year and the years to come should be turning point when all of us say: Enough is enough. This violent crime will not be committed in my name. This also means that an abuser should be reported as soon as possible. Clearly this was not the first ever altercation but just a continuation that migrated from their home to the police station.
Abusers are emboldened if they are not reported. Report abusers. And if police do not act, report them to IPID director here, Robert McBride. Hold the police accountable and demand that they respond to your needs. Otherwise, this police station and many others are just empty shells, monstrosities without any use or function just like the ones where many were tortured and killed.
In conclusion, programme director, let me quote Julie Berg who wrote that:
“Good policing is a fundamental test of democracy. The police are thus representative of a democratic order and it is they who are in direct contact with the public. It is therefore imperative that the police are: Professional; Politically neutral (that is, free from political manipulation), Human rights orientated, democratic and obey the laws of the country, Community-orientated and Accountable”.
This is what we are committing to. Anything else just won’t do.
I thank you
