Hornberger, Julia. 2004. "My police - your police": the informal privatisation of the police in the inner city of Johannesburg. African Studies 63(2):213-230.

The author exposes the "disjuncture between actual policing practice and a form of normatively prescribed official policing" by using inner Johannesburg as the terrain in which to analyse everyday policing. This analysis debunks the idealised image of the SAPS being an unbiased,
public institution but rather one which is filled with "friction and disunity". The author elucidates on the concept of "my police - your police" by showing that a form of ´private policing´ is taking place, as inhabitants of socio-economically deprived parts of the city are forced to utilise or "capture" members of the SAPS "through some relationship of familiarity, friendship or indebtedness or the concurrence of particularistic interest" so that the officer becomes "my officer". In this way victims and offenders pit "their" SAPS officers against each other to gain advantage and similarly SAPS officers being manipulated in this way allow this to take place through having some interest or incentive of their own - and the author alludes to the possibility of corruption. The author then rightly asks whether this situation is "a naïve distortion by local people of how police operate or is the imaginary of "your police - my police" actually a faithful depiction of the realities of policing as they present themselves to people removed from the realm of governance?" The paper thus provides an interesting take on the concept of privatisation of police.

The ´Africa launch´ of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative report on police accountability in the Commonwealth together with a workshop will be held from 13-15 October in Ghana.
The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (www.humanrightsinitiative.org) is hosting a meeting on October 14th and 15th in Accra, Ghana, to discuss police accountability in Africa. Participants will be from Commonwealth countries in Africa, and represent oversight bodies, civil society groups active on policing issues, and some police organisations as well. The focus of discussions will be on the different models of oversight bodies and the experience in different countries of advocacy towards establishing such a body, as well as details such as the establishment process, challenges faced and how they´ve been overcome, and success stories. The meeting is timed to be held before the Commonwealth Law Ministers meet and a statement from the meeting will be presented to Law Ministers to encourage their engagement with issues of police accountability. For more information, contact Clare Doube at the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative: clare@humanrightsintiative.org

JALA TSEBO SEMINAR SERIES. Police in a Democratic South Africa

The Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR) will be hosting a seminar which will present some recent work and thinking as part of a discussion on the state of policing in South Africa on the 27th September. Read details >>>