SERI, together with partner organisations Institute for Security Studies (ISS) Gun Free South Africa (GFSA) the African Policing Civilian Oversight Forum (APCOF), has produced a set of infographics on the Panel of Experts Report on Policing and Crowd Management. The infographics have been developed to inform members of the public and the media about the contents of the panel report and its key recommendations. More specifically, they provide information about the circumstances the led to the Panel of Experts being established, namely the Marikana massacre of 2012; the different issues the panel examined; what the panel said on issues of professionalisation, demilitarisation, and accountability; what the panel said on protest, the law, and crowd management; and what is needed for the successful and timeous implementation of the report.
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ISS together with SERI and other partner organisations produce police accountability factsheet
(August 2021)
The police are supposed to protect the public from crime and violence, but they sometimes engage in unlawful behaviour such as corruption, brutality, and torture. Holding police accountable for wrongdoing is essential. The Institute for Security Studies (ISS) together with SERI and other partner organisations including the Legal Resources Centre (LRC), the African Policing Civilian Oversight Forum (APCOF), Viewfinder, Corruption Watch, and the Anti-Repression Working Group of the C-19 People's Coalition, have developed a factsheet on police accountability to commemorate Youth Day. This factsheet has combined content from all the partner organisations, and aims to create a centralised knowledge bank with information on police accountability. This factsheet has been developed to help members of the public understand police powers, their rights when encountering police, and their options for reporting abuses of power by the South African Police Service (SAPS). The factsheet is also available in isiXhosa, isiZulu, Sesotho and Afrikaans.
- Student Protests: A Legal and Practical Guide (September 2017)
During 2015 and 2016, students on university campuses across South Africa embarked on large-scale, disruptive protests calling for systemic changes to how universities operate and approach education, as well as how academic curricula are structured. Government, university administrators, police and private security often responded to these protests with force in an attempt to shut them down. Universities approached the courts to obtain interdicts preventing students from protesting on campuses. The police used tear gas, stun grenades, water cannons and rubber bullets against protesting students in often disproportionate and unlawful uses of force. This user-friendly resource guide explains students’ rights to protest, as well as students’ rights when they are arrested, detained or charged with a crime during a protest. It aims to create awareness of the rights and obligations of those involved in student protests to encourage university administrators, police and private security officials to respect human rights and mitigate the disproportionate and unlawful use of force. The guide was written by Michael Clark and Tim Fish Hodgson.
- Community Organisers Guide (March 2015)
This guide was developed to assist CBOs to organise effectively in order to facilitate social change in their communities. It draws on the experiences and practices of the South African shackdwellers’ movement Abahlali baseMjondolo (AbM) and examines a number of topics: what is a community organisation, principles of community organisation, establishing a CBO, community meetings, protests and gatherings, education programmes, sustaining a CBO, managing and sharing information, and networking and partnerships. This guide is one of the resources in the Dear Mandela Toolkit, aimed at informing individuals, communities and CBOs of their rights.