Below is a speech delivered to a public meeting by Pinetown Councillor, Warwick Chapman in response to the failure to deliver services from Pinetown SAPS:

We, the undersigned people of Pinetown believe that the Pinetown SAPS is not providing us security as afforded to us in the Constitution.
We request the Provincial and National Commissioners of Police and the Minister of Police take urgent steps to appoint an experienced and capable station commander to Pinetown and ensure that he/she is given the support they need to provide us the security we are entitled to.
We further commit ourselves as a community to partnering with our Policemen and women in the fight against crime, and expect Pinetown SAPS to make that partnership a cornerstone in the fight against crime.

That is the petition which we all signed today.

There are people in this hall today who have come to CPF meetings and complained about the Police only to have me remind them that the CPF is a forum to work with our Police and not to complain about them.
Unfortunately, the reality unless the station commander takes community policing seriously, it is unlikely many of his staff will and thus, the CPF has, in reality, no teeth.

We go through the motions of subforum and mother body CPF meetings every single month – being presented statistics which confuse us by Policeman who often can’t answer our questions about them. Statistics are presented for a policing sector of which Pinetown has 3, while the forums represent parts of the Policing area demarcated along municipal lines. Why? Why aren’t our sub-fora aligned to the Policing sectors as they are everywhere else in the country so that when we listen to statistics in our meetings, they are relevant and thus useful in the ongoing fight against crime.

We’ve been through meeting after meeting of late, listening to our station commander presenting depressing figures relating to operational vehicles and numbers of policemen in service.

At last count, of 87 vehicles we’re supposed to have, 36 are available for service, and of 405 members of staff, we have 285 in service. Now if that’s not a crisis situation, then I don’t know what is. What I’d like to know though, is when the Pinetown SAPS is going to consider having only a third of its vehicles and two-thirds of its staff available to be a crisis. Instead what we see is the regular use of Pinetown SAPS vehicles at Checkers and other centres, being used for shopping. Just last week in half an hour, a vigilent resident managed to photographs 3 Pinetown SAPS vehicles being used for shopping in one centre.

In response to the capture of the gang responsible for this week’s tragedy, I’ve been asked by several journalists for comment. Capturing these murdering thugs will not bring back the young man who was just about to venture into the world. The first responsibility of the Police in South Africa, in our law, is to prevent crime. If I knew that Pinetown SAPS was doing everything in its power, using all the resources it has to prevent crimes like these happening, I might be more inclined to regard this sort of tragedy as one of those horrible realities of the world we live in today.

Instead, I wonder to myself just how different things could be in Pinetown and indeed the rest of our country if effective policing was the top priority of the Police and not an obsession with power, demographics and money.

Why is it that I can watch some Pinetown policeman drive down Hill St and the pirate DVD sellers and dagga peddlers do nothing, and yet if one of the few Policeman who is passionate about his job does the same thing, these guy scatter?

It seems to me that just because some of our Policeman have a job, doesn’t mean they necessarily want to do it. A resident recently reported to me witnessing two Pinetown Policemen not even getting out of their vehicles as fleeing criminals ran past them.

And what about the smash and grabs at the Hill St/Anderson intersection. Enough people have observed and understood the modus operandi of the criminals operating that area to understand where they hit and where they escape to. Is there a coordinated effort to crack this gang? I’ve heard of none and they certainly continue unabated.

Some might say that gone are the days when there was anything civil or service-related in the “civil service”. Well, I beg to differ on two scores: firstly, I am often embarrassed by the far from civil manner in which many of us speak to civil servants today and thus we are often the cause of the poor service we receive; secondly, I believe that there are many good examples of efficient, and friendly civil service all over the country – proof that it does exist and something that all other civil servants, including our station commander and his policemen and women, should aspire to.

I’ve recently been advised that there is an alarmingly high number of unlicensed firearms which travel through our Hill St/Anderson rank area on a daily basis. I am certain this is not news to SAPS Pinetown. Further, I am advised of the fact that business and residential burglaries are often facilitated by criminal elements within the taxi industry. So, then, when last did we see a major coordinated operation to cordon and search for these weapons, and intercept taxis facilitating burglaries in the area. I don’t know of any and nobody I have asked can remember such a thing since the time when the army used to be called in to assist with such operations.

I am assured that there are members of the taxi industry who are as infuriated by the out of control rate of crime in this area as our suburbian dwellers are. Minibus taxis provide a critical service to the economy of this country on a daily basis and very seldom do they deserve the reputation they have earned. It is my opinion that operators of taxis in the Pinetown are as crucial to community policing as any resident in this area.

Community policing is a partnership founded in the fact that we as members of the community have more eyes and ears than our Police do. Collectively, we see and hear everything that is happening in our community. No criminal can enter or leave Pinetown without someone seeing or hearing them. Structures like Community Policing Forums must ensure that communities know what to look out for, how to report it effectively and who to report it to.

Ideally, the CPF should be taken very seriously by the station commander and his relationship with the chairperson and executive of the CPF should inform the crime fighting strategy. In this instance, while not speaking for the CPF, as it has its own chair to do that, from my position as an ex-officio member of the executive, I am now firmly of the belief that we are regarded as an irritant to Pinetown SAPS and nothing more.

Quite simply, a working partnership requires both parties to take one another seriously. The last year has been spent resurrecting the Pinetown CPF after it was run into the ground by our station commander who protested that it did not represent the demographics of the people living in his policing area.

The Pinetown CPF now represents the demographics of the Pinetown policing area and yet I fear that it’s still not quite what the station commander wants. My distinct impression is that if we didn’t exist, he would be a far happier man and he could get on with whatever he does each day without the bother of a CPF.

Personally, I have had enough of waiting for this ‘partnership’ to bear fruit. The blunt truth is that Pinetown SAPS is on average a poorly led, poorly motivated and poorly trained group of Policeman who are failing the people of Pinetown.

For too long we have seen our crime statistics getting worse and worse, while at the same time realising that fewer and fewer people see the point in reporting crimes beyond the insurance requirement.

The few good men and women working in Pinetown SAPS appear to given a hard time purely because they are interested in working hard and protecting the citizens they serve. When a station’s leadership is intent on doing nothing, those incessant individuals who insist on doing something become an irritation. The morale of some of these excellent Policemen and women is at rock bottom.

Our present station commander joined Pinetown SAPS in January 2007, nearly 4 years ago. One of his first actions was to do away with the very effective bike unit without consulting the CPF. Shortly thereafter he instructed the CPF to postpone their AGM and then held an AGM of his own on the same night, notifying the old CPF that he no longer recognised them – effectively terminating a 15 year existence on a whim.

In the CrimeZero magazine of 14 September, Brig. Zama wrote the following of the Pinetown CPF:
“Pinetown SAPS has a well established Community Police Forum Executive Committee which does not only represent the demographics of our policing area but is representative of levels of the community we serve through the Community Police Sub-Forums. There is a total of five sub-forums representing three sectors established in terms of SAPS Sector Policing policy. It is through these forums that SAPS Pinetown enjoys sound relationships with the business sector, security companies, religious leaders, local NGO’s, councillors and various other government departments.”

This description is exceptionally optimistic. At the September CPF meeting, when a memorandum handed to Zama was being responded to, the Cluster Chairperson Mr Sibaca was present. Councillor Esther Bawden and myself were the only councillors present. After the meeting Mr Sibaca spoke to me and his words were, “We need more councillors like you who attend these meetings. Please try get the other councillors to attend.” I explained to him that the only councillors in the area who attend CPF meetings were Cllr Jean Lindsay, Cllr Esther Bawden and myself and that try as we might we could not get Cllr Nelly Nyanisa from Ward 21, Cllr Stanley Buthelezi from Ward 16 and Cllr Derek Dimba from Ward 15 to attend.

I personally phoned and reminded each of those councillors of the October meeting during the week before the meeting. None of them attended. So Brig. Zama is left with an IFP and two DA councillors attending his CPF meetings – and unfortunately we are not at all representative of the demographics of our policing area. Further, to my knowledge spare for the odd appearance of a representative from an NGO, I cannot agree that business, security companies, religious leaders and NGO’s let alone other government departments are represented in the CPF meetings.

Further, in terms of Sector Policing policy, SAPS is required to structure its activities in order to implement Community Policing.

SAPS summarises the purpose of sector policing as follows:
- Perform targeted visible police patrols
- Ensure a rapid response to complaints
- Address crime generators
- Investigate reported cases
- Provide a localized policing service to the community in accordance with their respective needs

Can we honestly say that Pinetown SAPS has functioning, let alone effective sector and community policing? For one, I do not know how you do enough visible patrols in a sector if you have only one or two patrol vehicles allocated per sector as is presently the case.

Can we say we receive a rapid response to complaints? I’ve heard enough reports to suggest that’s not often enough the case. Besides, how can Pinetown SAPS provide a rapid response if two-thirds of its vehicles are out of service?

Can we properly investigate reported cases? Well if the station commander’s own view of his detectives is anything to go by, I’d suggest not. At a recent CPF meeting, he described more than half his detectives as being “incapable of expressing themselves in words, let alone investigating crime”.

For months, we have been asking for the incidence of crime in the policing area to be mapped. How do you provide localised policing if you aren’t constantly keeping track of where crimes are taking place in your area?

Are we sure that as a community, we’re doing the job required of us to make this partnership work?

The SAPS require that the community does the following:
- Attend the Community Police Sub Forum meetings to discuss action plans with the sector commander in order to deal with crime in the sector
- Participate in neighborhood initiatives to safeguard the area in which they live, work and play
- To take ownership of community policing and support the SAPS in the enforcement of the law

I can assure you that we attend all meetings, we’re establishing neighbourhood initiatives all over the area, having recently established our tenth neighbourhood watch, and we push the community policing concept as publicly as we can. Unfortunately supporting SAPS in the enforcement of the law and as well as discussing action plans requires some active buy-in from the Police. We very seldom have our sector commanders at our sub-forum meetings. We most certainly do not get to discuss any action plans, strategy or initiatives to ensure enforcement of the law – as this is just not within the ambit of the space the CPF currently is provided at Pinetown SAPS.

Lastly, structures for community involvement in Policing are listed as including:
- Reservists (SAPS)
- CPF (SAPS Act)
- Neighborhood Watches

Many of you will be aware that there is a moratorium in place on the recruitment of Police reservists despite a public pronouncement a year ago by the Minister of Police that it had been lifted. A recently parliamentary question confirmed that no reservists whatsoever were recruited anywhere around the country last year and very few the year before, and yet they are listed at the top of the list of structures for community involvement in Policing.

Our constitution, the supreme law of our land, requires that:
- (ss 198 a. ) “National security must reflect the resolve of South Africans, as individuals and as a nation, to live as equals, to live in peace and harmony, to be free from fear and want and to seek a better life”; and
- (ss 205 (2)) National legislation must establish the powers and functions of the police service and must enable the police service to discharge its responsibilities effectively, taking into account the requirements of the provinces.;
- (ss 205 (3)) The objects of the police service are to prevent, combat and investigate crime, to maintain public order, to protect and secure the inhabitants of the Republic and their property, and to uphold and enforce the law.

In line with this legislation, we have the right to a Pinetown SAPS which is a competently led, well motivated and well trained such that they may “effectively” prevent, combat and investigate crime for the people of Pinetown.

I can no longer say with confidence to the people who ask me what I am doing about crime that working with the CPF, we will manage to straighten things at Pinetown SAPS out. My recommendation is that SAPS find somewhere suitable for our station commander to put his considerable experience as a Policeman to better use, preferably in an environment where he is not required to interact with a community or a community policing forum.

We need a policeman dedicated to fighting crime, dedicated to serving our community and committed to working with us to turn the tide against crime to take over as commander of the Pinetown SAPS. I can think of a few candidates already – excellent police officers working in terrible conditions in the Pinetown Police Station at present.

I am no longer willing to accept a dysfunctional Pinetown SAPS. I am no longer willing to accept that a handful of excellent and committed policeman have to carry the load for everyone else. The time has come to deliver and the order is a functional, efficient and well resourced police station in Pinetown to serve all who reside in this policing area. We must not rest until we see the change we need.

Today, Brig. James Sayer, the commander of the Pinetown Cluster of Police stations has been mandated by the Provincial Commissioner of Police to accept a memorandum from the Pinetown CPF and the people of Pinetown. I have taken the liberty of compiling a memorandum for Brig. Sayer which I believe encapsulates the essence of the problem in Pinetown.

It reads as follows:

As the elected public representative for most of the Pinetown area, and one of the only 3 councillors in the Pinetown policing area who actively participate in community policing structures, I hereby submit the following memorandum.

The partnership between the Pinetown SAPS, notably the station commander, and the CPF and community as a whole may exist, but it exists only to the extent required to fulfil the legal mandate. In practice, there is no collaborative effort between Pinetown SAPS and the community it serves to fight crime.

I believe these issues are serious enough that the response to this and the CPF memorandum be delivered in person. I thus, request that the above the responded to in the form of an address at a Public Meeting at a venue to be announced on Sunday 7 November, 2010.

Right, now having said and done what we believe is required to get the change we need in Pinetown. I need to ensure that we all understand that we may not get what we believe we need and in the interim, we’ll still have a crippled Pinetown SAPS to deal with.

I thus appeal to all of you to recognise that it is the place and responsibility of the SAPS to protect us and they are the ones we should call on when we are in need. This meeting does not serve as a call for vigilantism or taking the law into our own hands.

We must continue to commit ourselves to building our own community policing structures such as neighbourhood watches, and ensuring we have as good a working relationship with SAPS as we can achieve. We must identify those excellent Policeman within our community and we must support them with everything we can.

I thank you all for coming here today. I thank you for your activism.