Nearly 600 cases were opened against Eastern Cape police in the 2023/2024 financial year, according to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) annual report.
This was an increase of 70 cases compared with the 2022/2023 financial year.
The report reveals that in terms of deaths as a result of police action, KwaZulu-Natal has reported the highest number of 166 (25%) cases, followed by Gauteng with 145 (22%), the Eastern Cape with 94 (14%) cases and Western Cape with 71 (11%) cases.
Thirty-two people died in police custody.
The SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) in 2024 held an inquiry into allegations of excessive use of force used on students during a protest at the Walter Sisulu University’s Mthatha campus in May.
Students testified at the hearing in August that they had protested “peacefully” on the N2 outside the campus.
Dumisani Koza testified that he still had a bullet lodged in his buttocks after he was shot while running away.
“The bullet is still in me. They [doctors] couldn’t remove it,” he testified.
“I would like to see justice done. I want those people that shot us to be held accountable.”
Another student, Ntlakanipho Nxumalo, said he was shot in the upper part of his rib cage while trying to help other students.
“It was live ammunition. I was bleeding and then taken to a hospital.
“I don’t know why the police shot because we were just burning tyres,” he said.
The findings of the inquiry are yet to be tabled.
In 2024, matric pupil Chulumanco Siyasanga Magadla,18, was shot dead, allegedly by police, when officers stormed a private boarding house in Mthatha where the boys were studying for matric exams.
Provincial Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union secretary Xolani Prusente said their members worked “very hard under strenuous working conditions with limited resources and very low salaries and were duty-bound to defend society in unfavourable conditions”.
“While we are performing our duties of fighting crime, on the other side, we have Ipid that wants to justify its relevance.
“Criminals are aware of this, when they want to crucify a good police officer they go and abuse Ipid,” Prusente said.
He said there should be research into who the complainants were.
“It’s mostly criminals and the cases are emanating from crime scenes.
“While Ipid is working hard to find our members guilty, those outcomes are used by criminals to litigate the state and scoop a lot of money.”
There were 18 cases of rape by police, up by one compared with the previous period. Of those, 11 of the rapes allegedly took place while the officers were on duty while seven were off-duty.
There were 69 reports of people being tortured by police compared with 46 in the previous year.
A total of 313 assault cases were opened, an increase from 306 in the previous period.
On Thursday, Ipid spokesperson Lizzy Suping said the directorate registered 5,136 cases nationally in 2023/2024.
“Of the 5,136 cases registered nationally, the East Cape registered 571 cases.
“The highest intake in the province was assault at 313, discharge of an official firearm at 67 and death due to police action, 62.
“The Eastern Cape was in the top five provinces that registered more cases. The others are Gauteng, the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State.
“Once an investigation is concluded, Ipid refers the docket to the NPA.
“In the East Cape, 160 cases were registered as decision ready and were referred to the NPA and 193 disciplinary recommendations were made to the SAPS, of which 110 were positive recommendation and 83 were negative.
“Thus, the SAPS had to institute disciplinary processes against 83 members,” Suping said.
Prusente said: “The biggest loophole is the Criminal Procedure Act of 1977 applied in our courts.
“It fails to deal with the criminality in our society, exposing law enforcement to a state of vulnerability.
“The government needs to protect the good police officers, otherwise criminals will be in charge while police officers are being frightened by Ipid.”
The SA Human Rights Commission’s Brandon Ainslee said: “The SAHRC is alarmed by these statistics, which reveal a disturbing trend of human rights violations by members of law enforcement.
“These incidents undermine public confidence in the police, who serve as the first line of defence in upholding the law and safeguarding the rights of all individuals.”
The commission called for Ipid’s immediate implementation of accountability mechanisms to address the violations.
Gender-based violence activist Asonele Melaphi said the reported rape cases were alarming and deeply disturbing.
“The fact that 11 out of 18 cases were committed by on-duty officers suggests a systemic failure ... It’s imperative that the authorities take immediate and decisive action to address this issue,” she said.
Eastern Cape Men’s Movement’s the Rev Xolamzi Sam said the statistics were a “stark reminder of the alarming reality that those sworn to protect us can sometimes become perpetrators of heinous crimes”.
Provincial Community Policing Forum secretary Ludumo Salman said: “These stats are actually revealing many things on how the SAPS [members] are conducting themselves.
“We moved away from police force to police service yet we still get the same reports as happened in the ’80s ... Those implicated in wrong things should be prosecuted. No-one is above the law.”
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