The discussion comes hot on the heels of a controversial video involving the South African Police Service’s VIP protection unit attached to Deputy President Paul Mashatile Armed men from the unit can be seen assaulting three civilians on the N1 highway in Fourways.
JOHANNESBURG - Analysts and researchers believe that the blue light brigade remains a necessity in a country like South Africa where crime rates remain high.“In a country where there is a problem of political killings notably in KwaZulu-Natal where people at the provincial level and local government are targeted. And even the killing of whistleblowers, a lot of people are raising questions to do with the adequacy of the type of protection that has been provided and the expenditure thereof.
Meanwhile, the executive director of the Organisation Undoing Tax agreed that the high budget for the unit had to be considered. “In certain areas, we do need the blue light looking at the political violence, but there are millions of South Africans today struggling with crime that is living in neighbourhoods; where they can't go outside after the sun is set because the crime is just out of hand and that's where more protection and security budget should be allocated to as opposed to throwing all that money in one unit.
Senior legal analyst Romeo Nthambeleni said more education was needed on the function of the blue lights and law reform. “In most incidents where we can see that there is abuse of power, it cannot be condoned in a constitutional democracy. While citizens should also remember to be law-abiding as should the police so that when there is unlawfulness action can be easily taken.”
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