S'THEMBISO MSOMI | Mkhwanazi wins public trust in crime fight, but real change needs more than a lone sheriff

There is absolutely no doubt that if a poll were to be held today on who the next national police commissioner – or even minister – should be, the overwhelming majority would choose Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi

The KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner’s no-nonsense approach to the fight against crime has not only won him nationwide acclaim but seems to be sending shivers down the spines of criminal gangs and their enablers.

As one of the speakers at the funeral of young Olorato Mongale put it, Mkhwanazi is giving hope to the citizens that the fight against crime, including against gender-based violence, can be won.

Mkhwanazi, and the police in general, are receiving much-deserved praise for the commendable manner in which they have handled the investigation into the gruesome killing of the young woman.

Once news that the main suspect in the murder, Philangenkosi Makhanya, was believed to be hiding somewhere in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal after committing the crime in Johannesburg, there was almost unanimity on social media that it was only a matter of time before Mkhwanazi, and his team nabbed him.

Even when it emerged that Makhanya had eluded the police by a few minutes in Inanda, north of Durban, after his mother had allegedly tipped him off that cops had been at their KwaMashu home and were now on their way to his hideout, public confidence was there that it was just a matter of time before he was found.

Less than 24 hours later, Makhanya’s lifeless body was removed from an apartment in Amanzimtoti, south of Durban, after what has been described as a shoot-out with the police.

His alleged accomplice, Bongani Mthimkhulu from Zola in Soweto, is still at large – and alive – some said on social media, because he did not make the “mistake” of hiding in Mkhwanazi’s home turf.

Crime, especially in its violent form, is so out of control in our country that citizens are desperate for new approaches that deliver results.

Unfortunately, since the increase in such crimes coincided with the adoption of the constitution that places much emphasis on human rights, including the rights of those accused of crime, many are beginning to blame the legal system and our courts for being “soft” on crime.

Hence the yearning for a police force that shoots first and asks questions later, or for courts to set much stricter requirements for granting bail to those accused of violent crime.

Though Mkhwanazi clearly works within the boundaries of the law, the large number of armed suspects being killed during shoot-outs with the police in KZN has made those who are looking for a hard line on crime to see him as the cowboy sheriff they have been looking for.

However, experience teaches us that, no matter how tempting it seems, the authorities cannot just shoot their way out of the crisis of our insanely high violent crime rate.

Having grown up in the township that produced Makhanya, I can attest the many “shoot-to-kill” initiatives over the past five decades have had limited success in reducing violent crime and criminal gangs.

These included the actions of the apartheid-era police’s murder and robbery units, which killed a lot of criminals without actually putting a stop to bank robberies, cash-in-transit heists and taxi violence.

Outside the state, communities – tired of being victims – took the law into their hands, starting such anti-crime initiatives as Oqonda (the IFP-aligned KwaZulu homeland township vigilantes) and the People’s Courts (the United Democratic Front-aligned communities structures formed to fight crime).

As the criminals became heavily armed in response, communities formed paramilitary protection units whose aim was to sweep the gangs out of the townships. Gangs would be chased away or killed, only for new ones to emerge a few months later.

As citizens, we are right to demand that police become tougher in the battle against the scourge, but we must also learn from a few lessons that Mongale’s case has brought to the fore.

The first is that not all is lost with our police service and their excellence is certainly not limited to KZN. As we know by now, in April, a policeman driving in Brakpan, Ekurhuleni, noticed a VW Polo parked suspiciously on the side of a road and decided to investigate. He discovered that a woman had been kidnapped by Makhanya and Mthimkhulu. He arrested them and impounded the car. They were unfortunately released on bail, and the car, which they were to later use in Mongale’s killing, was returned to them.

It is also important to note that, over and above the technology used by the police to track the suspects, it is the co-operation of the community of KwaMashu, through their community policing forum, which helped the investigators quickly follow Makhanya’s tracks from Johannesburg to the township. Without the community, the police would probably still be trying to figure out where the car disappeared to once it off-ramped from the national highway.

In short, yes, we need men and women as dedicated as Mkhwanazi in the police, but it is important to note that there are already many of them across the country. They will not succeed, however, without the help of the communities from which these criminals come and from among whom they hide.