Petition calls for more time to comment on police green paper
Last Friday, 27 civil society organizations signed a letter directed at Ms Jenni Irish-Qhobosheane, of the Civilian Secretariat for Police Service. The organisations requested more time to comment on the Green Paper on Policing that Ms Irish-Qhobosheane published last week.
The letter welcomed the release of the Green Paper on Policing, a document that “will guide the development of policing strategies”. The Green Paper is a first draft and is now open for public comment. It considers the relationship between communities and the police, the strategies for crime prevention, the strategies for crowd management, the training and the recruitment of police and the relationship of the police with provincial governments. It is 70 pages. What the civil society organisations find problematic is that the last day for comments is 7 July. In other words, Ms. Irish-Qhobosheane only provided two weeks for comments.
“It severely limits the public’s ability to participate and compromises the integrity of the process,” wrote the 27 organisations in their letter. “Therefore, in order to ensure that the process is within the spirit of the law and Constitution, we respectfully request that the deadline be extended to 31 August 2013.”
Among the signers are Ndifunda Ukwazi, Campaign for Safe Communities, Social Justice Coalition and Equal Education, organisations that have denounced the actions of the police within the communities of Khayelitsha since 2011. It also includes also women’s rights organizations such as the Women’s Legal Center and the Women on Farms Project.
The full list of signatories is: Campaign for Safe Communities; Triangle Project; Ndifuna Ukwazi; Social Justice Coalition; Human Rights Institute of South Africa; Civil Society Prison Reform Initiative; Gun Free South Africa; African Policing Community Oversight Forum; SECTION27; Local Government Action; The Soul City Institute for Health & Development Communication; Open Shuhada Street; Women’s Legal Centre; Thohoyandou Victim Empowerment Programme; Greater Rape Intervention Project; Sisters’ Inc; Nisaa Institute for Women’s Development; Limpopo Legal Advice Centre; Women on Farms Project; National Shelter Movement; Western Cape Women’s Shelter Movement; Project Empower; Childline; Legal Resources Centre; Coping Centre; Institute for Security Studies; Equal Education.
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