Suspected extrajudicial killings of the 'bad guys' earns KZN police praise, but need for 'rigorous oversight’

If there were a popularity contest in KwaZulu-Natal tomorrow, provincial police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi would probably win it hands down.

There is no shortage of public support for the lieutenant-general. 

He is sticking it to the bad guys in a way that delights crime-weary citizens. 

 



Social media is awash with comments: “Mkhwanazi is showing the criminals flames… the general is cleaning up, one street at a time… I would have loved to see Gen. Mkhwanazi at the national level... He’s doing a brilliant job with KZN.”

Dead suspects are hogging headlines as scores of suspected ATM bombers, gang members and contract killers have been shot dead. At about midnight on Monday, the police shot dead six men in the Durban CBD who were allegedly wanted for murder and extortion. This and reports since February give a sense of the volley of killings. 

The police shot two cash-in-transit suspects dead in Verulam. Four suspects were killed after a gunfight in Inanda. Two cash-in-transit suspects were killed in Umlazi. Four cash-in-transit suspects were killed in Estcourt. Three suspects were shot dead in Eshowe. Four suspects were shot dead in Cato Manor. Nine suspects were shot dead in a gun battle with police in Marianhill. Two suspects were shot dead in Durban South. Four were shot dead in Camperdown. Four were shot dead in Phoenix.

The province’s top cop is in the spotlight because of a spate of killings by the police, but statistics show this isn’t new to KZN. And there’s more to the story than one man.

In the first six months of this year, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) registered 83 suspects killed by the police in KZN.

Since 2012, between 353 and 436 people have been killed by police every year across the country, and KZN accounts for between 22% and 40% of these. Last year, 142 people were killed by police in KZN. Back in 2020 they killed 104.

The high rate of killings is not new and precedes Mkhwanazi (appointed provincial commissioner in 2018), but alarm bells are ringing.

Public sympathy for the sledgehammer police response to crime is one thing. Fears about extrajudicial killings are another.

Crime scene investigators at a damaged car with bullet holes along Dudley Road on 2 June 2023 in Durban, South Africa. It is reported that the suspected armed robbers were fatally wounded few moments after they had robbed a victim who had just withdrawn an undisclosed amount of money from a bank at a shopping complex in Westville. (Photo: Gallo Images / Darren Stewart)

Mkhwanazi defends the police action. He concedes there is cause for concern, but says citizens are being murdered “in droves”. Mkhwanazi doesn’t want “anyone” to die, he says, but criminals are “waging war”. 

“We are the last line of defence between good and bad in this country. We have to protect citizens. So we have to lay our lives down for them. If it means criminals must die, so be it. If it means we must die, so be it.”

Damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t

In a way, career policeman Mkhwanazi is damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t. In response to criticism, he pointed out that the South African Police Service had arrested 35,000 suspects who didn’t resist arrest in the past three months.

Addressing parliament about the rise in extortion in South Africa on Tuesday, new police minister Senzo Mchunu had this to say about the war against criminals. “Police know criminals, and that is why they arrest them, and they even shoot them, and we are encouraging them to go on on those two. Arrest where you can, but where you have to, deal with them head on"

While police and security sources applaud Mkhwanazi’s tough stance, some worry police work is affected by severe internal challenges, most notably corruption.

A high-placed private security source told Daily Maverick: “I am the first one to clap when the bad guys are killed. They are vicious criminals. The cops use the element of surprise. Clandestine operations are critical because they fear leaks from their corrupt colleagues. But I stand for the rule of law. Why aren’t the cops profiling these guys? What’s happening now is creating bloodlust, and some people are starting to feel untouchable. The cops are working with private security companies. Not all are vetted. Who is to say that private scores aren’t being settled?”

The scene of the Overport shooting in Durban. (Photo: Greg Ardé)

Police officers a the Overport shooting in Durban. (Photo: Greg Ardé)

One story explains this fear. In Durban’s Overport area in July, the police shot four men dead on a busy street. SAPS spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda said the men were wanted for various crimes, including murder and construction mafia activities.

The men were allegedly en route to execute a hit on a man making his way to the bank with his bodyguards to deposit a large sum of cash. 

When this reporter asked for details about who the suspects were, the South African Police Service suggested Daily Maverick request more information by lodging a Promotion of Access to Information Act application – an arduous process. There is no public information about who the suspects were and police wouldn’t say. 

‘Links to a drug turf war’

An anonymous WhatsApp voice note circulated after the shooting suggested links to a drug turf war. Pressed for details, Mkhwanazi said the Overport case, like others, wasn’t closed now that the suspects were dead. While appreciating the need for transparency, he said public statements or naming the suspects were circumscribed by evidence yet to be presented in court. This involved an inquest or a murder investigation. 

In response to questions from Daily Maverick, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate also declined to reveal the names of suspects who were recently shot in KZN.  

In April last year, five men were shot dead by the police in Durban after the father of one of the suspects, a former policeman, Gregory Loftus, tried to interdict the police from arresting his son amid fears he would be shot. 

Loftus reiterated oft-repeated claims about corrupt police officers working with drug lords.

Law professor Pierre de Vos said high levels of violent crime meant it was unsurprising that sections of the public cheered the police on when they killed suspects.

Blindly cheering on such killings without knowing whether they were justified is worrying.

People accepted at face value claims that the suspects shot first.

“Blindly cheering on such killings without knowing whether they were justified is worrying.”

Daneel Knoetze, who has investigated the police’s misuse of deadly force, said the South African Police Service often absolved itself of proactive responsibility to interrogate force, instead deferring to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate, which wasn’t a functioning watchdog. 

“Transparency, accountability, and capacity are keywords here. The Independent Police Investigative Directorate doesn’t have the capacity. The entire process requires scrutiny, and that is sub-optimal.”

The directorate has 164 investigators. With each investigator carrying 317 cases (338 in KZN), it is questionable how swiftly these killings will be probed. 

Gareth Newham, the Head of Justice and Violence Prevention at the Institute for Security Studies, described Mkhwanazi as well trained, knowledgeable and respected.

However, the increased killings warranted rigorous independent oversight.

The focus should be on the intelligence received before operations, and the extent to which planning was done to avoid bloodshed.

Organised crime is rife and deeply embedded in political structures, especially in KZN.

“This issue is difficult. Organised crime is rife and deeply embedded in political structures, especially in KZN. With high levels of police corruption, people are right to ask questions about the killings. You can understand why some police squads operate in secrecy — they don’t trust their colleagues because there are so many crooked cops. But you also have to be careful that rivals in organised crime and drug wars are not using the police. 

“The typical trajectory of countries with increased killings by the police around the world is not good. The quicker the Government of National Unity agrees to focus on professionalising the police force and establishing a board to look at these killings, the better. You need to be specific about what crime intelligence you want and how that information translates into action that improves police outcomes and develops sustainable capacity,” said  Newham.

Following the violence in July 2021, a high-level panel found crime intelligence did not prevent the violence, which spread due to a slow response by visible policing. 

Newham says that SAPS management is in disarray nationally, and has been since this was flagged in 2012.

In June, the Institute for Security Studies produced a report recommending police reform in crucial areas to address high levels of police corruption, ineffectual internal discipline, poor investigations, forensic backlogs, loss of police firearms, inadequate fleet management and other persistent problems.

Police corruption ‘massive’

Newham said police corruption was “massive” and surveys showed low public confidence in the SAPS. A key priority (and performance indicator) for the police was to reduce the murder rate. 

Between 2012 and 2022, the murder rate increased by 53%. There were more than 27,000 killings in South Africa last year, compared with about 16,000 a decade earlier. In that time, the SAPS’s ability to solve murders dropped by 61%. 

In 2012 the SAPS could solve 31% of its murder dockets, but only 12% in 2022. Newham said the SAPS needed to be professional, effective, agile, and open to innovation.

Community members gather at the scene where nine suspected criminals were killed in a shootout with the police in Desai, Marrianhill, on 3 April 2024.  According to the police the suspects were sought in connection with various crimes, including the gang-rape of a girl and forcing her mother to witness the assault during a house robbery. (Photo: Gallo Images / Darren Stewart).

The police's Forensic Pathology Services staff at the scene where nine suspected criminals were killed in Desai, Durban. (Photo: Gallo Images / Darren Stewart).

The SAPS is on a recruitment drive to hire an additional 30,000 employees. Newham says the number of employees has dropped by 11% — despite the police budget growing by more than 70% since 2012.  

“Increasing police numbers is highly unlikely to improve public safety if systems are inadequate, organisational culture is characterised by mistrust and low morale, and there is very little accountability for unlawful conduct or poor performance,” he said.

Before hiring tens of thousands of people who met the minimum standards, the SAPS should have a capability review and skills audit to drive efficiency. It needed fewer constables and more skilled investigators, analysts, and technology experts.

Eroded standards

Recruitment standards and vocational commitment were low, in part because union pressure had eroded standards. For example, in 2009 the SAPS waived the requirement that police members have a driver’s licence. 

Recruitment was also open to corruption. Last year, a preliminary audit showed that 300 recruits were employed as police members but hadn’t actually applied for police jobs, meaning their recruitment was corrupt.

“If your first act in joining the police is to break the law, it won’t get better from there,”  said Newham.

Internal investigations into corruption are lame. Last year, 64 police members were found guilty of corruption (out of a total force of 180,000), and only 32 were fired. Twelve years ago, the number of disciplinaries was 6,000; last year, there were 1,300.

“Are they taking discipline seriously? There’s not enough incentive not to be corrupt. Systemic change is needed. This includes ending automatic promotions of all ranks below captain for every police member every seven years, depending on budget. This is not based on performance; instead, it is about arriving at work.” 

Newham said the swollen SAPS wage bill meant an ever-declining force with little specialist skills or training to produce officers capable of complex problem solving.

“Now, if you can shoot the target and know how to march you are put on the street. And we wonder why we are losing the war against crime. More than 80% of murder dockets remain unsolved. That’s not much deterrence for a killer. We are paying the police more for worse performance. You have a budget of R113-billion. What are you doing with the money?”

Another indicator of police failure was the cost of civil claims against the SAPS, which were linked to wrongful arrest. In 2022/23, almost R650-million was paid out to victims of unlawful police conduct as a result of civil claims. 

“We need a complete overhaul of the system. The skills and resources exist to do this, but not the political will. Politicians with the most power to change the system don’t understand the required organisational reform. The pomp and ceremony seduce them.”

Mkhwanazi - From kick-ass cop to savvy media darling

In the years since leaving the SAPS’ skop, skiet and donner task force, Mkhwanazi has morphed from a kick-ass cop to a savvy media darling and outspoken advocate for police reform. While Mkhwanazi says you won’t “please the public through the pen of a journalist” or in the glare of television cameras, he seems to be doing precisely that. 

In the past month, Mkhwanazi, 52, a former commander of the SAPS Special Task Force and one-time acting national police commissioner, has given a slew of media interviews. He’s quick on his feet and preaches a gospel similar to former police minister Bheki Cele, but he has spent his life on the beat and is without bluster or bravado.

Read more about Mkhwanazi in this profile from our archives:  Police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi - SA's great balls of fire

Mkhwanazi cleared a taxi blockade in Durban in May after a firm, polite and efficient engagement with querulous taxi owners. Break the law and you fight with us, he said. Belligerent taxi bosses were cowed, and the blockade was cleared.

Mkhwanazi’s tough talk raised eyebrows in recent weeks during a Durban CBD clean-up. He urged licensed gun owners to defend themselves if attacked by criminals or their guns could end up murdering people. 

“If you fight and defend yourself, it helps us — because if you surrender that firearm you are arming these people to go kill someone else,” he said.

Fighting cunning, audacious criminals often means fluid and messy gun battles. Less aggressive, more visible policing tactics like roadblocks and stop-and-search operations were effective and preferable, but not always possible, he said. 

Addressing institutional challenges, Mkhwanazi said corruption in crime intelligence was being cleaned up. If he had his way, he’d implement performance management and work out the slackers, including high-ranking officers who abused sick leave.

If you don’t perform, we terminate. Simple and straightforward.

“If you don’t perform, we terminate. Simple and straightforward.” 

Last week, Mkhwanazi advocated for the devolution of police powers. 

He told Daily Maverick the SAPS was top heavy. Given free rein to control his wage bill, he would marshall his forces better with “fewer commanders and more operational members”.

If delegated the authority, he would reduce the number of generals and employ more beat cops and detectives. 

“We are bloated at the high level,” he said. 

KZN’s overcrowded prisons are an indicator of police success in KZN. This is a testament to the real police work on the ground, away from the glare of the camera. Public appreciation for Mkhwanazi, he said, without a hint of hubris, was encouraging. 

“When the public applauds, they must not applaud one person. Yes, I am the leader. The good and the bad must reflect on me. But I encourage… less about Mkhwanazi (so) more of the good members… shine. They are serving society and must be appreciated.” DM