Government resurrecting street committees

ANC president Jacob Zuma, emboldened by a remarkable political comeback, is resurrecting 'street committees' - community formations developed during the struggle against apartheid - as a weapon to counter South Africa's high crime rate.

Zuma rose to the ruling party's top position during a bitter succession battle against South African president Thabo Mbeki at the party's 2007 national conference in Polokwane, two years after Mbeki had fired him as the country's deputy president on allegations of corruption.

This week Mbeki resigned his post as South Africa's president after the ANC's executive body, controlled by Zuma supporters, made Mbeki's position untenable, putting Zuma in pole position as the ruling party's preferred presidential candidate for the 2009 elections.

Kgalema Motlanthe is expected to be installed as the country interim president, giving Zuma free reign to campaign for a five year presidential term of office and the fight against crime is being elevated as one of his major policy initiatives.

The use of street committees is envisaged by Zuma as a grassroots answer to the country crime wave and his initiative is already being implemented.

The formation of street committees during apartheid was designed to consolidate ANC support among poor black township communities against apartheid and to actively fight the system of white privilege.

In the northern province of Limpopo and Zuma's eastern home province of KwaZulu Natal, the resuscitation of street committees has become a reality, although skeptics maintain the use of civilians in fighting crime could prove a legal minefield.

Legal experts said ordinary citizens had limited powers to make arrests and could face a legion of legal complications when put to the test by the country's human rights based constitution.

Nevertheless, Zuma launched the first of three street committees in August last year in Newlands East, a poor suburb of the eastern port city of Durban, telling the audience not to be lenient with criminals, who in any case had no respect for life.

"These street committees must not be user-friendly to criminals, but that does not mean that you must kill. Just catch the criminals and hand them over to the police," he said.

'Kill the bastards'

Although the South African Police Service (SAPS) have reduced crime in recent years, instances of serious offences such as murder, rape and robbery, remain high.

I want no warning shots. You have one shot and it must be a kill shot. Criminals are hell bent on undermining the law and they must now be dealt with. End of story. There are to be no negotiations with criminals

On a daily basis in South Africa there are about 50 murders, 99 reported rapes and 324 robberies involving weapons. In comparison the UK and Wales, which has a slightly greater population than South Africa's 48 million, averaged just under two murders a day in 2007.

South Africa's apparent inability to effectively fight crime has led to statements by politicians encouraging extra-judicial killings, in flagrant disregard of the constitution.

In April 2007 South Africa's deputy security minister Susan Shabangu told police chiefs: "You must kill the bastards if they threaten you or the community. You must not worry about the regulations - that is my responsibility. Your responsibility is to serve and protect.

"I want no warning shots. You have one shot and it must be a kill shot. Criminals are hell-bent on undermining the law and they must now be dealt with. End of story. There are to be no negotiations with criminals."

Political tool

Critics see the reconstitution of street committees as little more than a vote winning exercise after nearly 15 years of democracy where the ruling party's support is seen to be wavering.

At the opposition Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) annual general conference in August 2008 the party warned: "This [street committee] initiative of the ANC is one of thinly disguised political mobilisation, and is also an obvious admission that the criminal justice system of the ANC-led government has failed to protect the very citizens it is now asking to protect themselves.

"[The party] reminds members and supporters of how so-called 'street committees' were used to intimidate and terrorise communities at a time in our recent past when thousands lost their lives to political violence," the IFP conference's adopted resolution statement said.

The Zulu-dominated IFP party has long claimed that the street committees were used during the final years of apartheid by the ANC as instruments to wage the province's 'mini-civil war' against the IFP.

Street committee members, however, reject the notion that they are a political tool and claim the controversial initiative is already reducing crime rates.

Obed Qulo, 43, an active member of the Alhen Rice Garpa street committee in Newlands East, told IRIN he and his neighbours were trying to proactively tackle crime to protect their families.

"Over the past six months the levels of crime just got too high. A pastor was shot and killed on our street; people were getting raped, mugged and burgled at gunpoint nearly every week. We reported the crimes to the police but they never got here in time.

People have no right to approach someone on the street who they believe is carrying an offensive weapon and insist that person submit themselves to a search

"We came together as a community and decided we had to do something.
From there we started patrolling our streets from dusk to dawn and if we saw someone we did not know we would go up to them and ask them who they were and why they were in the area," he said.

However, Johan Becker, senior crime and justice researcher with the think-tank the Institute of Security Studies, told IRIN a civilian's right to act was extremely limited in terms of the Criminal Procedures Act, under which criminal arrests were made.

"Ordinary people can form into groups and street committees under the law, and make a citizens arrest if they witness someone committing a serious crime like murder or rape.

"However, that is about as far as those rights go. People have no right to approach someone on the street who they believe is carrying an offensive weapon and insist that person submit themselves to a search.

"By searching people in the street and handing them over to the police a person maybe creating a loop hole through which a case can be dismissed down the line by the courts. It will be interesting to see judges deal with cases involving street committee arrests," he said.

'We are not vigilantes'

Despite the legal and human rights issues hanging over the formation of street committees, the ANC's KwaZulu-Natal provincial secretary Senzo Mchunu said they were a reasonable response to crime, and have been very successful to date.

We are trying to become more about helping our communities than just a response to crime. We have started to act on behalf of single mothers in the area who often find it difficult to get help from local government

"The crime rates have gone down, that's what people are telling us. The committees are only directed towards combating crime, and won't involve people using violence as a means to take on the criminals. Rather, the people will work with the police under their supervision,"
he said.

Oulo said their street committee had consulted SAPS, the traffic police and councilors from an opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, to explain the street committees' purpose.

He said contrary to media reports they were not vigilantes and they were not armed.

"We are trying to become more about helping our communities than just a response to crime. We have started to act on behalf of single mothers in the area who often find it difficult to get help from local government.

"We visit them and find out their needs and when local councilors come to the area we give them a list of who needs help, for instance."

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