Police transgressions go unpunished
The establishment of an Independent Police Complaints Commission remains in the pipeline 11 years later, yet Minister of Defence and Security Kagiso Mmusi admits that complaints against the police need urgent attention lest the public loses trust in the police service.
“From the year 2010 to 2022 a total of 119 complaints against members of the Botswana Police Service were received. Presently all complaints against the Police are reported to and investigated by the Internal Affairs Branch of the Botswana Police Service. This branch was established in 2009 to respond to external complaints against the Police,” Mmusi told Parliament when answering a question from MP for Serowe South, Leepetswe Lesedi.
The minister said that 105 complaints were received against members of the Botswana Police Service in the last four years and out of the 105 complaints, 52 have been completed and the rest are at different levels of investigation and processing.
He said that although “there have been transgressions by some officers”, investigations have not proven that these amounted to brutality and or torture as MP Lesedi alleges.
Lesedi had asked the minister to state; When Government will introduce an independent Police Complaints Commission/Unit; the number of complaints against Botswana Police Service officers how such are being handled; and how many complaints have been received about members of the Botswana Police Service in the last four years and why incidents of alleged police brutality and torture have increased since April, 2018.
According to Mmusi, it is not true that incidents of alleged police brutality and torture increased since April, 2018. He told Parliament that 52 cases were completed or dealt with as follows; seven were dismissed by courts with costs, eight were settled out of court, 37 complainants who had lodged reports against police officers have since not shown interest in continuing their matters.
He revealed that the rest are at different levels being; Under investigations Pending trial, Pending judgement and should there be need for disaggregated data such may be provided upon request.
Interestingly, while Mmusi says his Ministry acknowledges that an independent Police Complaints Commission/Unit is a critical structure that may assist in increasing and maintaining public confidence in the manner in which
complaints against the police are handled, he is yet to act decisively on it.
Former Member of Parliament (MP) for Lobatse, Nehemiah Modubule had in 2011 tabled a motion in Parliament requesting government to set up an Independent Police Complaints Tribunal to safeguard citizens against police brutality, but government is yet to decide on it.
At the time, the then Minister of Defence, Justice and Security Edwin Batshu said they were benchmarking on the motion. Batshu had then stated that the ministry saw it fit to benchmark and have table researches in countries with an Independent Police Tribunal like South Africa, Lesotho and Australia to understand exactly how the institution works.
Last year, Minister Kagiso Mmusi said that government is still probing how best to implement the motion 11 years on. Mmusi last week told Parliament that consultations and other internal processes are ongoing with a view to establish the Independent Complaint Commission during National Development Plan 12 (NDP 12).