The behaviour of the South African Police Service (SAPS) has raised more questions than answers around the African continent with many people asking what is wrong with SA police.
On Monday morning the police shot rapper Khuli Chana and tried in vain to justify themselves by saying they mistook him for a kidnapper.
The award winning rapper has hinted that he will press charges against the SA police.
Recently, a Zimbabwean Embassy official, Lucky Hakueri (37), was shot dead by a police officer in Pretoria and it was again a case of mistaken identity as the police officer mistook him for an armed robber.
Hakueri was in the company of his friend Albany Chitsuwi an IT specialist who was also shot and seriously injured.
Some months ago eight South African policemen were charged with the murder of a taxi driver who was bashed, tied to the back of a van and dragged along the road in Johannesburg.
Mozambican taxi driver Mido Macia, 27, was found dead in detention with signs of head injuries and internal bleeding, according to an initial post-mortem report released by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID).
These unfortunate events have caused many to say that the police are not the ones to blame per-se, but the system created in the country.
Recent statistics show that between 1998 and 2012, at least 21,785 criminal cases involving police officers were reported to South Africa’s Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD), and a civilian oversight structure recently re-named the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID).
This excludes cases involving deaths in police custody, or as a result of police action, and cases of misconduct.
According to the ICD’s annual reports, more than 2,000 serious criminal cases involving police were reported to it every year since 2007.
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