Ipid to probe if police action warranted as nine suspects are shot dead

Fourteen suspects were killed by police in two provinces yesterday in one of the bloodiest days in the war on crime. 

In the early hours of Wednesday, nine suspects were fatally wounded during a shootout with police in Mariannhill, KZN, and five more were killed in a foiled cash-in-transit robbery in Emalahleni, Mpumalanga, a few hours later. Police recovered five rifles and two handguns in the Mpumalanga shooting. 

Since January, 37 suspects were killed in KZN from 11 incidents in places like Inanda, Ulundi, Eshowe, Clermont and Verulam. The latest killings have sparked a debate about whether police actions are justified or exceeded reasonable use of force.

There were 393 similar deaths recorded by police watchdog, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid), last year which it says have left investigators overwhelmed in getting answers on whether or not police were acting within the law.

According to Ipid's annual report, a further 410 deaths in the 2021/22 financial year were recorded, which means on average one suspect is killed by police daily.

Ipid spokesperson Phaladi Shuping yesterday said the frequency of these cases had a negative impact on the workload of investigators because having more cases to investigate delays their finalisation.

Meanwhile, Ipid boss Jennifer Ntlatseng yesterday told Sowetan she was concerned about the frequency  of the shootings and feared innocent people could get hurt.

The 2022/23 Ipid report shows that, in some instances, cases of death as a result of police action had more than one victim in incidents of business robbery and vehicle hijackings.

According to the report, KwaZulu-Natal recorded 19 incidents of multiple deaths ranging between two to four victims at a scene, followed by Gauteng with nine incidents of such. Some of the victims were bystanders caught in the shootouts. 

On Wednesday, officers from the KZN provincial stabilisation team acted on intelligence and pounced on suspects who had been terrorising residents in Mariannhill and surrounding areas. Police engaged in a gunfire battle that resulted in nine suspects being killed.

Police spokesperson Col Robert Netshiunda said the suspects had been on their radar for some time and were also sought after they allegedly gang-raped a girl and made her mother watch during a house robbery.

Ntlatseng said she had dispatched a team to investigate the incident, and to get cases where the killed suspects are linked.

"What we have done is that we have even gone to the point of saying, if you are saying all of them are suspects, give us case numbers to determine what links these people to the very same cases that you are talking about.

"For me, the fear is you are going to be wiping out innocent people in the process because when you shoot you are not so certain [if it is all suspects] so it is a serious concern for us."

Ntlatseng said her team would also interview residents in the area to check if there were innocent people caught in the crossfire.

"Families should come to us and indicate if there is anybody who was caught in the crossfire so that we can do further investigations."

Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union spokesperson, Richard Mamabolo, said in most cases, police are the ones who are ambushed and killed under such circumstances.

"It is understandable that as and when police act on tip-offs, they would then be expecting many forms of resistance from armed gangs, and quite rationally, they would go to suspected hideouts very well armed so that they are in a position to protect themselves," Mamabolo said.

"All these reported incidents could have easily resulted in the loss of lives of our officers and would therefore create an impression that criminals have got an upper hand. We think the officers were well within their right to uncover some of the potential crimes some of these alleged criminals would have conducted, and similarly well within their right to defend themselves by whatever means necessary."

Socio-Economic Rights Institute researcher Thato Masiangoako said police use of force must be done within the law.

"We can also imagine that the circumstances of such an incident are incredibly complex and require split-second decision making. Police work is challenging but given the kind of powers they exercise, they have to be accountable for their actions and in this case account for the force used and the circumstances that justified it," said Masiangoako.

Prof Irvin Kinnes at the Centre for Criminology at the University of Cape Town said the Saps Act states that a member is authorised by law to use reasonable force.

He said the constitution states that everyone has a right to life and that the police's intentions should be to arrest criminals.   

"They must also uphold and enforce the law but what measures are they taking to prevent crime? You can't say the answer is to execute the suspects," he said.