{"id":164986,"date":"2020-09-08T01:43:53","date_gmt":"2020-09-07T23:43:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.groundup.org.za\/article\/police-alleged-have-killed-children-not-held-accountable-watchdog-records-reveal\/"},"modified":"2020-09-08T01:43:53","modified_gmt":"2020-09-07T23:43:53","slug":"police-are-not-being-held-accountable-for-child-killings-watchdog-records-reveal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/police-are-not-being-held-accountable-for-child-killings-watchdog-records-reveal\/","title":{"rendered":"Police are not being held accountable for child killings, watchdog records reveal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"bigger-image\" href=\"https:\/\/www.groundup.org.za\/media\/uploads\/images\/Third%20Party\/HoutBay-JustinSullivan.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt data-pagespeed-url-hash=\"1774537166\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/police-are-not-being-held-accountable-for-child-killings-watchdog-records-reveal.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"caption\">A police officer points his rifle at 14-year-old Ona Dubula hiding under a table with another person in Hangberg in September 2017. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.groundup.org.za\/article\/history-violence-police-action-hout-bay\/?edit=no\">Dubula was shot in he mouth<\/a>. Archive photo: Justin Sullivan (copyright: Justin Sullivan &#8211; this photo is not available under GroundUp\u2019s usual licensing terms).<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>39 children died at the hands of police or in custody between April 2012 and March 2018.<\/li>\n<li>Almost none of these cases have resulted in convictions.<\/li>\n<li>Can IPID, the police watchdog, overcome years of cover-up and dysfunction?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr>\n<p>Few criminal cases against the police receive as much public attention as the killing of 16-year-old Nathaniel Julies, who had Down syndrome, in Eldorado Park on 26 August. Julies was laid to rest on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>The reaction from investigators and prosecutors was also decisive. Within a week, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) arrested three police officers. The suspects have all appeared in court, charged variously with murder, accessory to murder and defeating the ends of justice. Police minister Bheki Cele visited Julies\u2019 family and vowed that justice would be served if the accused police officers were found guilty.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m just glad that they are apprehended \u2026 that they are in custody,\u201d Cyril Brown, a Julies family representative, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=XMU7EmdVOmg\">told<\/a> reporters after two of the officers appeared in the Protea Magistrates court last Monday. \u201cWe just hope that there are no glitches in the case and that justice will take its course \u2026 For now, we are quite happy with the proceedings.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But, such satisfaction and an outcome \u2013 justice for Nathaniel Julies\u2019 family \u2013 would be an exception.<\/p>\n<p>A new Viewfinder analysis has found that almost none of the cases of children allegedly killed by the police, or of those who have died in custody in recent years have resulted in police officers being held accountable.<\/p>\n<h2>A snapshot of children allegedly killed by police in South Africa<\/h2>\n<p>IPID\u2019s case data contains a field for the age of people who have died \u201cas a result of police action\u201d or \u201cin police custody\u201d. This field is often blank, but where details are recorded it is possible to isolate a sample of deceased children. According to this data, excluding cases where children reportedly died in road accidents, IPID investigated the killings and deaths in custody of at least 39 children between April 2012 and March 2018.<\/p>\n<p>As with almost any cross section of the police watchdog\u2019s case data, this sample contains descriptions of excessive violence by police officers.<\/p>\n<p>In September 2013, a Cato Manor police officer shot 17-year-old Nqobile Nzuza in the back during a protest by Durban-based shackdwellers\u2019 movement Abahlali baseMjondolo.<\/p>\n<p>In December 2014, a Melmoth police officer allegedly shot his girlfriend\u2019s three children with his service firearm when he suspected her of infidelity. Four-year-old Sphamandla Ndlanzi was killed while his two teenage sisters survived.<\/p>\n<p>In March 2015, also near Melmoth in KwaZulu-Natal, police allegedly killed three-month-old Ntandoyethu Mdunge when they raided a homestead in search of illegal firearms. According to IPID\u2019s complaint description, the baby was strapped to her mother\u2019s back and died after a police officer pushed the woman into a wall.<\/p>\n<p>In September 2015, a police officer allegedly beat 16-year-old Thulani Ndlela to death with a concrete block in Kwadukuza, KwaZulu-Natal.<\/p>\n<p>In December 2015, 17-year-old Austin Goliath was found hanging by his socks in a police cell in Piketberg, Western Cape. Last year, Viewfinder <a href=\"https:\/\/viewfinder.org.za\/kill-the-files\/\">analysed<\/a> IPID\u2019s docket in this case and concluded that the investigator probably never attended the scene, much less conducted a thorough investigation.<\/p>\n<p>In March 2016, police allegedly shot 11-year-old Anqobile Sikhweza in the back when they fired \u201cwarning shots\u201d at protesters demanding electricity services in Ntabankulu\u2019s Sidakeni township, Eastern Cape.<\/p>\n<p>In May 2016, police arrested 17-year-old Rasedupe Rampopo in Kroonstad in the Free State \u201cfor questioning about the theft of the chairs\u201d. As they led the boy away, one officer apparently told Rampopo\u2019s mother that they would teach her son a lesson. According to IPID\u2019s complaint description, Rampopo was later \u201cfound dead\u201d near a bridge. The cause of death was recorded as \u201csuffocation\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>In October 2017, eight-year-old Damin Swart died at the Red Cross Children\u2019s Hospital reportedly after a stun grenade exploded in his face when police tried to disperse a crowd in Kraaifontein, Western Cape.<\/p>\n<p>Of the 39 cases in the sample, according to available data as at March 2019, the murder of Nqobile Nzuza is the only one to have led to a criminal conviction. In the two disciplinary convictions for \u201cmurder\u201d emanating from the sample the sentences were light: a \u201cdismissal, wholly suspended for two months\u201d in a case related to the death in custody of a 15-year-old boy in Komga, Eastern Cape in November 2013; and, a \u201cverbal warning\u201d for the fatal shooting \u201cfrom behind\u201d of a 17-year-old boy near Somerset West in March 2015.<\/p>\n<p>Despite this low conviction ratio, many of the cases were marked as \u201cclosed\u201d or \u201ccompleted\u201d and reported as statistical successes in IPID\u2019s annual reports.<\/p>\n<p>IPID\u2019s habit of \u201ccompleting\u201d superficial investigations to inflate performance statistics \u2013 a practice which obstructed justice for victims and allowed perpetrators in the police to escape accountability \u2013 was the subject of Viewfinder\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/viewfinder.org.za\/kill-the-files\/\">expos\u00e9<\/a> on the directorate last year.<\/p>\n<p>Viewfinder also analysed the outcomes of tens of thousands of criminal cases against the police, registered by IPID between 2012 and 2019, and found that only around one in 100 such cases led to a criminal conviction. The ratio is slightly higher if one also takes disciplinary convictions into account.<\/p>\n<h2>Victims\u2019 families are disillusioned with IPID<\/h2>\n<p>From our interviews with surviving victims and with the families of people allegedly killed by police, Viewfinder has deduced that this ratio is underpinned by widespread disillusionment with the police watchdog\u2019s investigators and processes.<\/p>\n<p>These families and victims bemoan the apparent low quality of IPID investigations and a lack of feedback from case workers (feedback which these officials are legally <a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/6244122-IPID-Regulations.html#document\/p9\/a566715\">obliged<\/a> to give). For instance, Viewfinder has engaged at length with the families of two men who died after alleged assaults by the police during the first few days of Covid-19 lockdown enforcement. Both families still feel stonewalled by IPID.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just feel very disappointed in everything \u2013 IPID\u2019s case \u2026 and the fact that they don\u2019t let me know anything,\u201d said Valene Meintjies, whose stepfather Petrus Miggels died from a heart attack in Ravensmead, Western Cape, shortly after he was <a href=\"http:\/\/viewfinder.org.za\/covid-19-police-watchdog-investigation-of-first-lockdown-death-reveals-deep-flaws\/\">allegedly assaulted by the police<\/a> on the first day of lockdown.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t believe that IPID is doing enough to bring the police to book,\u201d said Thembi Nkosi, whose brother Ishmael Gama was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/6884606-PCP-Lockdown-Presentation-26-March-5-May-2020.html#document\/p13\/a579891\">allegedly<\/a> tortured with boiling water and beaten to death with a brick by police after he was apprehended for stealing car parts at a police pound in Lenasia, Gauteng, on 1 April.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m entirely dissatisfied (with IPID) because they only give information when I\u2019m the one reaching out and my family still has too many unanswered questions as to why the case has not gone to court.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes, IPID\u2019s failure to arrest perpetrators or to give feedback leave victims\u2019 families in limbo for years. This was a central theme in <a href=\"https:\/\/vimeo.com\/369767127\">A Killing in the Winelands<\/a>, Viewfinder\u2019s documentary film of last year which followed Atang Thokoane, a migrant worker from Lesotho, as he revisited the murder of his brother by police in De Doorns, Western Cape, in 2013.<\/p>\n<p>Another case from 2013 relates to the murder of 15-year-old Damian Arendse who was fatally shot in the back, allegedly by a police officer, in Wesbank on the Cape Flats in December 2013. Damian\u2019s case was one of those in the data sample analysed above.<\/p>\n<p>Over the six years following her son\u2019s murder, Klarina Arendse says that she has consistently tried to get an answer from IPID\u2019s case worker and from the prosecutor to whom the docket was referred. Her requests for feedback have been snubbed, she says. Viewfinder\u2019s queries about the case to IPID and the NPA also went unanswered.<\/p>\n<p>Arendse says, \u201cWhat happened in Eldorado Park, that boy was 16-years-old \u2026 I sympathise with the family \u2026 The attention that family gets, from the media, from Bheki Cele, policemen are being locked up, but for my child no one was locked up \u2026 I can\u2019t think why the one gets justice and the other one does not get justice, because they were both children \u2026 I\u2019m so devastated.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>IPID recommits to improve as new leader seeks to prove herself<\/h2>\n<p>Apart from the swift arrests, another remarkable aspect of IPID\u2019s response to the Julies case was the visibility of the watchdog\u2019s new head Jennifer Dikeledi Ntlatseng. It was not common for Ntlatseng\u2019s predecessors to present themselves, as she did, at the scene of a crime and to speak freely with reporters. She <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?time_continue=86&amp;v=VdJypZ8RcQQ&amp;feature=emb_logo\">expressed her concerns<\/a> over alleged crime scene tampering by the police and said that IPID\u2019s investigation would be thorough.<\/p>\n<p>In July, Police Minister Bheki Cele\u2019s appointment of Ntlatseng was <a href=\"https:\/\/viewfinder.org.za\/parliament-failed-to-vet-celes-nomination-for-ipid-head\/\">criticised<\/a> by opposition MPs and civil society organisations for a lack of transparency and parliamentary oversight. Critics were concerned, in light of a long history of allegations of political manipulation of the police watchdog, that the minister would exert influence over Ntlatseng to protect corruption accused police officers from investigation. In response, Ntlatseng has vowed that she would be tough on corruption and criminality within the police service.<\/p>\n<p>In particular, she has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=5VQARicfZ2I\">championed<\/a> the plight of women allegedly raped by police officers and committed IPID to better engage victims and communities. Just days after visiting the scene in Eldorado Park, Ntlatseng was in Uitenhage in the Eastern Cape, where she reassured the family of an 8-year-old rape victim that IPID is \u201ccommitted to ensure that justice is served for the young girl\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>This victim-centered approach would set an example within an organisation often experienced as aloof and indifferent to the victims\u2019 or their families\u2019 need for feedback, justice and closure. But, the police watchdog\u2019s future impact relies on more than a change in its engagement with victims and families.<\/p>\n<p>This week, IPID announced that Ntlatseng will visit the directorate\u2019s Eastern Cape and Western Cape provincial offices to give \u201cstrategic direction\u201d and brief them on \u201cstrategies\u201d for \u201censuring justice is served for victims as well as their families\u201d. This comes after Ntlatseng has identified \u201cvarious policy interventions\u201d for the next five years to \u201cenhance\u201d and \u201cfast-track\u201d cases. Viewfinder understands that these interventions would necessarily extend to improvements in how IPID manages its massive case load and pursues and measures its impact on police conduct and accountability.<\/p>\n<p>Parliament\u2019s Portfolio Committee on Policing (PCP) have consistently expressed concern that IPID\u2019s performance indicators and targets allow for neither the directorate, nor the committee to gauge the actual impact of its investigations on police conduct.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, Viewfinder <a href=\"https:\/\/viewfinder.org.za\/kill-the-files\/\">found<\/a> that IPID\u2019s performance indicators incentivised poor investigations and premature case completion to artificially inflate performance statistics. This finding prompted a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/6780260-APCOF-RESEARCH-25.html\">report<\/a>, with a number of recommendations, from the African Policing Civilian Oversight Forum (APCOF).<\/p>\n<p>In February the PCP circulated APCOF\u2019s recommendations at a meeting with IPID. The police watchdog <a href=\"https:\/\/viewfinder.org.za\/police-watchdog-commits-to-major-policy-change\/\">committed<\/a> to heed the recommendations and to implement a series of policy improvements.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Explainer: APCOF\u2019s recommendations to IPID<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"editor-summary\">What policy changes did APCOF recommend and how will it help IPID hold criminal cops accountable? Why is it important that IPID\u2019s performance indicators change as well? For a fuller explanation, read Viewfinder\u2019s review of the APCOF report where these recommendations were made. <a href=\"https:\/\/viewfinder.org.za\/ipid-should-focus-on-worst-criminal-cops-says-expert-report\/\">READ MORE<\/a><\/div>\n<p>On the same day that Ntlatseng met with the rape victim\u2019s family in Uitenhage, senior members of her management team met with APCOF director Sean Tait. They discussed potential policy interventions which would help IPID fulfill its commitment to improve its impact on police conduct and accountability.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere remains an urgent need for IPID to begin monitoring its impact. In the eyes of many people, IPID appears increasingly ineffective in addressing police criminality and abuses of power,\u201d said Tait after the meeting. He added that it was encouraging that IPID followed up on its commitment in February by engaging APCOF.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAssessing impact is a complex undertaking and while there is still much work required\u2026 (the follow-up meeting) did demonstrate a will within IPID to improve its performance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Next month, it will be a year since Viewfinder exposed that poor case management practices and performance indicators at IPID that obstructed justice for the victims of police brutality in South Africa. Also in October, Ntlatseng will for the first time present IPID\u2019s annual report to Parliament. But, her presentation will not be judged on IPID\u2019s performance statistics for the 2019\/20 financial year (the directorate still subscribes to and reports the old, debunked performance statistics).<\/p>\n<p>Rather, parliamentarians, police brutality victims and their families will wait to hear what Ntlatseng proposes for the next five years. For such a proposal to have any weight, it cannot but outline a clear departure from case management practices and performance indicators which for years have underwritten IPID\u2019s failure to actually impact on police conduct and accountability.<\/p>\n<p class=\"author-description\">This article forms part of an ongoing series on alleged police criminality and police oversight in South Africa. It was made possible, in part, by a grant from the Henry Nxumalo Fund for Investigative Reporting. This article is edited and partly funded by GroundUp.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/police-are-not-being-held-accountable-for-child-killings-watchdog-records-reveal.jpg\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.groundup.org.za\/\">Source: GroundUp<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A police officer points his rifle at 14-year-old Ona Dubula hiding under a table with another person in Hangberg in September 2017. Dubula was shot in he mouth. Archive photo: Justin Sullivan (copyright: Justin Sullivan &#8211; this photo is not available under GroundUp\u2019s usual licensing terms). 39 children died at the hands of police or [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":164987,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9928],"tags":[28001],"class_list":{"0":"post-164986","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-groundup","8":"tag-groundup","9":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/police-are-not-being-held-accountable-for-child-killings-watchdog-records-reveal.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164986\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}