Media Statement

17 April 2014

PRETORIA - The Minister of Police, Mr. Nathi Mthethwa, said today that the increased efforts by SAPS to improve the training of police officers involved in crowd control will help to ensure the right of all South Africans to demonstrate peacefully.

The Minister was speaking at the SAPS Academy in Pretoria where he was guest of honour at the passing out parade of 909 SAPS and Metro Police members who completed a three-week training course on crowd control.

"Just three weeks ago I congratulated 946 SAPS and Metro Police members who completed training. Today I am back to congratulate another 909 newly trained officers and to congratulate a further 90 members who completed the Platoon Commanders course," he said.

The Minister said that all around the world police services are dealing with people who want to turn peaceful protests into violent ones and it is important that police are properly trained and equipped to peacefully deal with this problem.

"In South Africa we cannot allow violence at demonstrations because the police are pledged to protect people who wish to demonstrate peacefully. This places a very heavy responsibility on the shoulders of our policemen and women who have to respond to public gatherings in a way that strikes the right balance between the rights of citizens to demonstrate and the police's need to ensure peace and stability," he said.

The Minister said that to make sure that South Africa applied the best possible crowd control methods; training had been upgraded to match international standards:

"We have made crowd control a part of every policeman or woman's basic training, we have dedicated more officers to the Public Order Policing Units and we are seeking to improve the equipment police use during crowd control. We are also working hard to enhance our intelligence capacity, to identify criminals who plan violence at demonstrations," he said.

"It gives me a real sense of achievement to know that we are giving policemen and women - and their commanders - the expert training and skills they need to do their jobs properly. We have intensified training for specialised officers and we are partnering with the Metro police in this to make our skills even more formidable."

The Minister issued an appeal for all South Africans to think about how they behave at demonstrations.

"South Africa fought long and hard for democracy and needs to protect it. It is in all our interests to create a society where orderly, peaceful protests can take place without incident. "So, please do not bring dangerous weapons to large gatherings. Do not damage property and never attack the police or innocent people," he said.

Today's graduates include members of the SAPS Tactical Response Team and Metro Police members from Tshwane, Johannesburg, Durban and Ekurhuleni.

-End-

Media Enquiries:

David Barritt
Mobile: 082 603 3981

Issued by the Ministry of Police.