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03 June 2022 | Story Nitha Ramnath and Andre Damons


The criminal justice system in South Africa is not the solution to fixing the country’s crime problem, according to Gareth Newham, Head of the Justice and Violence Prevention Programme at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS).

Newham was part of the University of the Free State’s (UFS) webinar titled Crime in South Africa – who is to blame? which is the first instalment of the Thought-Leader webinar series.  Adriaan Basson, Editor of News24, Prof Joy Owen, Head of the Department of Anthropology at the University of the Free State (UFS), and Justice Dennis Davis, retired Judge at the High Court of Cape Town, were also part of the panel, which was facilitated by Prof Francis Petersen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS. 
 
Newham also said that the criminal justice system is a reactive system. “Problems can be addressed through proper policing, where the job of the police is to identify where the crime is and who is responsible,” he added. “To reduce the murder rate, we need to look at information available and start developing evidence-based prevention programmes in specific localities,” said Newham. Newham added that there needs to be an overhaul of the SAPS and a rethinking of what we expect from the police. “SAPS needs to build public trust and must be trained in communication, problem solving, and the de-escalation of violence,” added Newham.

Newham pointed out that foreign nationals are not the cause of crime in South Africa.

All South Africans are responsible for crime in the country

According to Prof Owen, all South Africans are responsible for crime in the country. We are responsible for curbing it, eradicating it, and removing it. We are also responsible for supporting it, maintaining it, and incubating it.

“We are part of a larger ecology that is responsive to the other. And to understand the complexity of crime, we need to consider the system, not merely its parts. If we do, this wisdom might prevail as we admit that we are indeed all part of a societal problem, and by implication the solution we are waiting for.” 

“Whose responsibility is it then to ‘combat’ crime? Yours and mine. How? We need to build the social compact. We need to recognise the value and strength that exist in our co-relating. Recognise our responsibility to each other. Understand the dynamics of power, and how a collective response from the bottom up can manifest a different reality – Operation Dudula is a case in point, yes. But so too are other community-driven organisations such as Equal Education, and most noticeably, Gift of the Givers,” said Prof Owen. 

She also asked the question – given the recent statistics with the unemployment rate in South Africa being 35,3% and the youth unemployment rate 66,5%, have you wondered why the crime rate is not higher? South Africa has one police officer for every 413 civilians. 

“The majority of those living in South Africa are not committing crimes, even if we recognise that crimes are underreported in South Africa; even if we understand that we will never have enough police officers to prevent crime. Think about it. Do we understand that most of those who are resident in South Africa are law-abiding citizens? Do we understand that daily, men and women make a conscious choice not to rob another?”

Any solution to crime in South Africa, according to Prof Owen, will have to be multifaceted, multipronged, and holistic. Poverty needs to be eradicated; we need to ensure food security and active engagement in livelihoods that secure our collective well-being. 

SAPS have not functioned properly for many years

Basson, who talked from the perspective of a journalist with 20 years’ experience, said we cannot look at crime in the country without looking at our history, as the country has a violent history. Crime is not something new that started in 1994. The history of colonialism and apartheid marked by crime against certain people because of their race, contributed and is still contributing to many of the issues that underline and caused the crime we have in our country today.
According to Basson, unemployment, poverty, and inequality also contribute to crime. He said the police have not functioned properly for many years. It has not acted as a protection service for South Africans – especially those who cannot afford private security. This can be attributed to corruption in the leadership of the police. 
 
“We have a big problem with our police, and unfortunately, I do not see a way out. I also do not think our current administration has a clear strategy to fix the police. The current Minister of Police has been fired as police commissioner due to a dodgy building contract (which was overturned in court many years later), and now it feels like he is still not done, as he acts more like the police commissioner than the political head,” said Basson.

Judge Davis added that while the police produce good evidence from time to time, shoddy work often prevents convictions, which is exacerbated by the absence of forensic skills. “A complete degradation of the system exists and there is the need for an overhaul of the SAPS,” added Judge Davis. He stressed that the huge levels of corruption within the SAPS compounds the problem even further and questioned whether we are attracting the right people into SAPS. 

Resurrection of the NPA needed

Judge Davis did not mince his words when he said that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) was guttered under Shaun Abrahams. He added that successful prosecutions were needed, and support from the private bar was important for the NPA to be resurrected. “There are many talented and dedicated prosecutors in the NPA,” he added.

According to Judge Davis, the court system is under tremendous strain, and however skilled or talented the magistrates and judges are, the Stalingrad tactics of holding up cases forever is problematic. He added that hearings should be longer. “Court times are a significant problem, and we do not sit for enough hours and push cases as significantly as we can,” he emphasised.

Judge Davis also touched on the complex parole system and emphasised the need for proper parole officers. He added that a completely inadequate system exists from beginning to end, and that there is a need to use the skills that South Africa has. “Sentencing is also a problem, and no proper sentencing training exists for judges,” he added.

“If we had national security, the July 2021 unrest would not have happened, and we would have had convictions,” he said.
“We also cannot underestimate the effects of apartheid and the social and political consequences of people living on the margins in relation to crime,” Judge Davis added. 

News Archive

First-year students welcomed into Kovsie Family
2013-01-23

 

New first-year students and their parents and guardians are welcomed on the Qwaqwa and Bloemfontein campuses.
Photo: Sonia Small
23 January 2013



   YouTube Video

They came from near and far. Some hail from Bloemfontein, others from as far away as Botswana but they all have one thing in common. They were here to start their first year as Kovsie students. Thousands of first-year students, along with parents and guardians, attended the first year welcoming on the Qwaqwa and Bloemfontein campuses on 18 and 19 January 2013 respectively.

“I do not care whether you come from the Free State or Zimbabwe or whether you are from Gauteng or Lesotho. I do not care if you speak Sesotho, Setswana or Afrikaans. What I care about is that you must understand that you are smarter than you think.”

This was the message from Prof Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the University of the Free State (UFS), when he officially welcomed first year students to the Qwaqwa Campus. “At the UFS, we put emphasis on two very important projects - the academic and human projects”, said Prof Jansen.

“The academic project is about you excelling academically as a student. It is about being the best you can be in your chosen field of study. All of you should strive to be like Zandile, a young girl from Umlazi who, despite her poverty and challenging conditions at home, went on to attain seven distinctions in her 2012 matric results”, said Prof Jansen. He was referring to Zandile who he tracked down via Facebook to offer her a full bursary to study at the UFS. Zandile had appeared on SABC TV news, expressing her frustration at the lack of funds to continue her studies, despite her performance.

“The human project is about you loving those who are different from you, thus becoming better human beings,” Prof Jansen said.

Prof. Jansen echoed the same message on the Bloemfontein Campus the following day when he welcomed thousands of new students. These students, their parents and guardians packed the huge tent that was erected in the CR Swart parking area of the campus. Prof. Jansen welcomed students from the different faculties during four sessions. He told parents and students that the class of 2013 was the smartest class the university had had in its 109-year history.

Mr Rudi Buys, Dean of Students, informed them about the many opportunities that awaited them at Kovsies. These include programmes like the Leadership for Change Programme for first year students and the Stanford Sophomore College Program for second year students.

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