Tuesday, April 19, 2011

South African Police brutality


After the recent savage police beating and shooting to death by rubber bullet of Meleke Andries Tatane in Ficksberg, South Africa, the Social Justice Coalition (SJC) released a statement condemning the action. They also mentioned the following frightening statistics:

"In 2008/9, the ICD [Independent Complaints Directorate] received 378 reports of [police-related] common assault, 828 of assault with grievous bodily harm, and 372 of attempted murder. Of these, only 6 of each resulted in successful prosecution – percentages of 1.58, 0.72 and 1.61 respectively. While there are no doubt examples where the police were innocent of wrongdoing, these numbers seem heavily skewed."

Seeming heavily skewed is the understatement of the century. The bottom line is, of every 100 cases of supposed police excess reported in South Africa, fully 98 of them will be unsuccessfully prosecuted. It's clear that the South African Police Service are a law unto themselves, a classic demonstration of the principle that there is one set of rules for the common man, and another set entirely for the special ones. If you get the crap beaten out of you by the Boere, you're on your own. Don't expect justice.

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