South Africans “have right to be protected”: Catholic Bishops to State after Shootings

“It seems to me that there is a growing lawlessness in our country, manifested, of course, by these killings, but also manifested in many different ways. It seems like people think that they can do what they like and that they will not be brought to justice,” Archbishop Brislin said during the Wednesday, July 13 interview.

He added in reference to the July 9 shootings, “To talk about these killings and to witness what has happened is very painful.”

“The families of those who have been killed and those who have been injured must be in terrible pain, emotional pain at what has happened, because this seems to have been absolutely indiscriminate killing,” the South African Archbishop said. 

He continued, “It is very hard to understand. What was the motive for these killings? It is very difficult to know whether they are connected to each other. Whether these have been planned for a particular reason.”

Archbishop Brislin went on to question the effectiveness of the Crime Intelligence Division of the South African Police Service in monitoring and gathering on crimes in the country.

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“I think that's the great lacuna at the moment,” he said, and posed, “Where is the intelligence in the country at the moment?” 

The South African Archbishop said, “It seems that the intelligence, or at least that some people are saying that the intelligence services were caught napping last year during the July riots.”

“Again, it really is the work of the intelligence to be able to determine why these attacks are taking place in the taverns; but it seems that our intelligence services are not working terribly well at the moment,” the 65-year-old Archbishop who started his Episcopal Ministry in South Africa’s Kroonstad Diocese in January 2007 said.

He added, “Visible policing is absolutely essential. I think for the maintenance of law and order in our country that's been pointed out to me that where there is a visible police presence, crime decreases rapidly.”

The South African Archbishop criticized the deployment of the infamous Police’s Tactical Response Team (TRT - Amabherethe) to assist local officers investigating the taverns shootings, saying, “We need the visible policing of having a police presence, not just bringing in the sort of matcher aspect of the police force.” 

He said that while taverns and the public need protection, the TRT - Amabherethe is “not really the type of visible policing that we need.”

“That can only work in certain circumstances, but I think we need a different type of police visibility, and we also need to ensure the safety of people,” the Archbishop said.

Archbishop Brislin said the police need to investigate the shootings as it is necessary in preventing future incidents. 

“We are hoping and praying and calling upon the police services to investigate these matters. We've got to understand it before we can find the solution for it, and for that we depend on the intelligence services to find out what is actually going on,” he told ACI Africa July 13, adding that South Africans need to understand the motive behind the killings at the taverns.

Sheila Pires is a veteran radio and television Mozambican journalist based in South Africa. She studied communications at the University of South Africa. She is passionate about writing on the works of the Church through Catholic journalism.