CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction
2.8 The legislative mandates governing the MPDs
The failure of South Africa's top law enforcement agencies, including the SAPS and municipal police, to stop serious criminal elements is perceived as posing a grave security risk to the greater society (Pheiffer, 2013:157). This study saw that gap of a failure suggested by Pheiffer (2013) then seeks to make recommendations on how the asset protection mandate of the TMPD officers can be enhanced . The SAPS Act and its amendment are the legislative mandates governing the functions and responsibilities of the MPDs. The promulgation of Sec 64 of the SAPS Act, 68 of 1995, gave effect to provisions of Sec 205 (1) of the Constitution in the establishment of the MPS. According to Section 64L of the SAPS Act, the “National Commissioner shall determine the minimum standards for training for police force. These standards and protocols are explained in section 2.6.4 as part of collaboration and cooperation efforts between the SAPS and MPS.
2.8.1 Traffic policing
The National Road Traffic Act (Act 93 of 1996) laws are a crucial part of an MPD's regulatory system. A certified traffic officer is a requirement for appointment as an MP officer under Section 3A of the National Road Traffic Act (Regulations for Municipal Police Services, 1999). To the same degree that they apply to provincial and municipal traffic officers, the rules regulating the hiring, training, and termination of MP law enforcement personnel must also apply to them.
Traffic policing, subject to any legislation relating to road traffic (Road Policing)
National Road Traffic Act, 1996 (Act No. 93 of 1996)
National Land Transport Act, 2009 (Act No. 5 of 2009)
Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences Act, 1998 (Act No. 46 of 1998) (Presently only active in Johannesburg and Tshwane)
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Road policing operations are managed and supervised by a traffic officer and a metropolitan police officer appointed according to Section 31 of the National Road Traffic Act (Van Biljon, 2014:25). As Van Biljon (2014) stressed that road policing operations are managed and supervised by a traffic officer and a metropolitan police officer, then there is a need to develop a comprehensive study to evaluate metro police department's crime prevention role in protecting the assets more in particular at CTMM because Van Biljon (2014) study was on road policing in general. According to Section 64A of the SAPS Act, a local authority's functional responsibility for traffic enforcement, monitoring, and control cannot be altered by the establishment of a Metro Police Force. Hence this study clarified the role of SAPS and went further to investigate the crime prevention role of TMPD’s protecting the assets of the CTMM.
In addition, Mokoena (2007:71) declares that highway visibility, accident management, street patrol, and road traffic control are essential municipal police activities to establish a stable environment for driving. Moreover, according to Mokoena (2007) the municipal police's primary responsibilities are to uphold and implement the law's provisions for traffic control, management, and authority. This study is similar to Mokoena (2007) however, this study is more unique as its focus is on the Capital city of the RSA with also a dimension of examining the challenges faced by the TMPD officers in their mandate of protecting municipal assets in CTMM.
2.8.2 By-laws and Regulation Policing
The policing of municipal by-laws and regulations which are the responsibility of the municipality in question. Municipalities each promulgate by-laws relevant to their unique environments. A by-law is a piece of local legislation that a municipal council adopts to impose limits on a variety of local offences (Memeza, 2001; Mokoena, 2007).
The following provisions of Section 156(2), Schedule 4 Part B, and Schedule 5 Part B of the Constitution (1996) may be regulated, among other things, by municipal by- laws:
Rules for buildings;
Day-care centres and public health services;
Services for battling fires;
Local public transportation;
Piers, harbours, jetties, pontoons, and ferries;
Regulations for trade;
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Public spaces, amusement parks, and beaches;
Billboards, as well as the placement of advertisements in public spaces;
Cemeteries, chapels of worship, and crematories;
Noise pollution and public nuisances are under control; and
Management of businesses that provide alcohol to the public.
2.8.3 Crime prevention
Crime prevention entails modifying the environment in which certain behaviour takes place, the factors that cause it, and providing a strong deterrent through establishing a functional criminal justice system. In 1996, the National Crime Prevention Strategy (NCPS) was adopted as the RSA's main strategy for combating crime (Pelser & Louw, 2002). With the implementation of this policy in May 1996, South Africa's approach to crime switched from proactive crime prevention to reactive criminal control (Bruce, 2006; Naudé, 2000). According to Newham (2006), South Africa's National Crime Prevention Policy is a comprehensive national strategy for lowering crime. Du Plessis and Louw (2005) went further to highlight that the NCPS, serves as a structure for a variety of interdepartmental projects that are focused on enhancing ecological architecture as a means of preventing crime, enhancing the criminal justice system, enhancing community values and education, and refocusing on transnational crime to increase safety.
On the other hand, one of the objectives of the NCPS is the creation of a unified regulatory framework that will enable the government to combat crime in a synchronised and coordinated manner and that makes use of the assets of all government entities in addition to civil society (1996). In addition, the promotion of a unified understanding and vision for how our country will combat crime. This vision should educate and inspire the province and local initiatives in the creation of a set of national programmes that serve to launch and concentrate the efforts of different government departments in providing quality service and focus on resolving the issues that contribute to high crime rates. With all has been discussed above, it is evidence that there is still a gap in conducting a study that will evaluate metro police department's crime prevention role in protecting the assets of the municipality particularly at Tshwane.
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2.8.4 Co-operation and collaboration efforts
The co-operation and collaboration legislation regulates cooperation between SAPS and Metro Police. This is not a service level agreement because MPS is not an agent for SAPS but a strategic alliance partner (PMG, 2019). The ever-changing legislative and operating landscape for policing needs a more flexible and proactive cooperation system rather than a stringent and reactive one. Based on this claim, Du Preez (1983:282) for example makes a specific recommendation about a redefinition of the role of the SAPS and then declares as follows: "there must be a move away from the current reactive policing process in which negative enforcement controls enjoy rank".
Through the following sections in the SAPS Act, the cooperation and coordination between the SAPS and MPS are regulated: Section 64 C (2) (e) - (g); Section 64 K, L, M, N, O, and Section 64 P. The following are the structures and mechanisms through which cooperation between the stakeholders takes place, namely:
National Standards, Regulations, and National Instructions
Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s)
Local Station and Cluster Meetings
Provincial Joint Operation Command Meetings
National Joint Operation Command Meetings
National Chief’s Forum Meetings
Regulations, standards, and instructions were issued to give effect to the legislative prescriptions for cooperation and coordination between the SAPS and MPS. These include:
National Standard for Metro Police on Crowd Management
National Standard for Metro Police on Domestic Violence
National Standard for Metro Police on Crime Scenes
National Standard for Metro Police on Arrest, Search and Seizure
It is evident from the above discussion that there are clear regulations, standards, and instructions between SAPS and MPS. Therefore, this study will focus more on the regulations of the MPS rather than that of SAPS. The next section is devoted to the discussion of MPS based on the international perspective, what are their practices when it comes to crime prevention and asset protection.
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