Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry into Policing

In 2014, Judge Kate O'Regan and Advocate Vusi Pikoli chaired a commission of inquiry into policing in Khayelitsha. GroundUp covered the inquiry in depth. Here are our reports as well as contributed opinion pieces from the inquiry.

Expert witness: SAPS must be held accountable for how they spend their budget

Police oversight should be extended to include how SAPS spends their budget. This was the testimony of Sean Tait, coordinator of the African Policing Civilian Oversight Forum, at the Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry this morning.

Adam Armstrong

News | 13 May 2014

O’Regan compares distribution of police resources to apartheid

Jean Redpath, a criminologist at the University of Western Cape, was the first person to testify in the second phase of the Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry, which started at Lookout Hill this morning. Redpath argued that the formula used to calculate police resource allocation is irrational.

Adam Armstrong

News | 12 May 2014

Khayelitsha cops: “We are the whipping boys”

While the Marikana hearings drift through the doldrums in Rustenberg, at Khayelitsha’s Lookout Hill another commission into police failings is cautiously gathering momentum. The O’Regan-Pikoli Commission of Inquiry is a timely and consolatory reminder of the judicial efficiency South Africa is capable of.

Richard Conyngham

Opinion | 22 April 2014

SJC “delighted” at progress of Khayelitsha Commission

The Social Justice Coalition is “delighted” at the progress of the Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry into policing, said the coalition’s Joel Bregman.

Adam Armstrong

News | 16 April 2014

Call to make secret police document public

SAPS provincial commissioner General Arno Lamoer is to recommend to the National Commissioner that the police resource allocation guide, which outlines the resources available at each police station, be made available to the public.

Adam Armstrong

News | 2 April 2014

Khayelitsha Commission told by SAPS Major General convicted criminals come out of prison gangsters

On 28 March, Major General Peter Jacobs, the Provincial Head of Crime Intelligence, gave evidence at the Khayelitsha Commission about visible policing.

Adam Armstrong

News | 28 March 2014

Commission hears from emotional cop about systemic failures in investigating rape and murder

On 27 March, the Khayelitsha Commission into policing had a short adjournment to allow an officer time to compose herself after she was overwhelmed with emotion while giving evidence.

Adam Armstrong

News | 27 March 2014

Senior SAPS members betray personal and institutional prejudices

As the O’Regan-Pikoli Commission of Inquiry’s first round of public hearings draw to a close, the commissioners are hearing the testimonies of high-ranking SAPS members at cluster, provincial and national level.

Richard Conyngham

News | 27 March 2014

Police major general believes Khayelitsha police have enough resources

On March 26, the Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry heard testimony from Major General Renee Fick. To some, it didn’t seemed Fick was speaking about the same Khayelitsha as the one the commission has heard about so far.

Adam Armstrong

News | 26 March 2014

Police operating with 33% less than they need

On March 25, Brigadier Leon Rabie told the Commission of Inquiry into Policing that if the proposed second station in Harare, Khayelitsha, went ahead, the SAPS would be “robbing Peter to pay Paul”.

Adam Armstrong

News | 25 March 2014

SAPS brigadier withdraws ‘offensive’ statement at Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry

Testimony at the Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry into policing continued on Monday 24 March with Brigadier Mlenga and General Goss. Mlenga wrote in his affidavit to the commission “people are living as animals”.

Adam Armstrong

News | 25 March 2014

SAPS fight stats, not crime

Our police fight stats, not crime, the Commission of Inquiry into policing in Khayelitsha heard this week.

Adam Armstrong

News | 20 March 2014

City responds to comments made at the Crime Summit in Khayelitsha

The City has responded to a statement made at the Crime Summit held on 14 March in Khayelitsha.

News | 19 March 2014

SAPS in Harare, Khayelitsha: setup to fail?

Advocate Nazreen Bawa continued to lead evidence today with Colonel Gert Nel, former station commander of Harare police station, and Colonel Tshotleho Raboliba, current station commander at Harare.

Adam Armstrong

News | 18 March 2014

High ranking SAPS officers to appear before the Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry into policing

Public hearings of the Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry into allegations of police inefficiency and a breakdown in relations between the community and the police restarted on 17 March with a number of high ranking SAPS officers in attendance.

Adam Armstrong

News | 18 March 2014

The Khayelitsha Commission takes a break

On Friday 21 February, the first round of public sittings of the Khayelitsha Commission came to an end. There will be no public sittings until 17 March, when senior SAPS officers will continue to give testimony.

Adam Armstrong

News | 3 March 2014