/savagely violent/

In any society we have a state apparatuses which deals with the quelling of violence. The Police are suppose to be the first people or at a higher level the apparatus that come to mind when we feel threatened or robbed or hurt. In terms of the mobilized demonstrations of service delivery that are taking place in South Africa they are suppose to be on guard when lives are threatened.

The mental preparedness of the state apparatuses responsible for quelling off of violent behavior or even detaining those who commitment violence and robbery is of outmost importance. The police are suppose to be able to access when it is the right time to use force as a last resort, in this regard their weapons.

But let us understand the nature within which the Police Force which is not inseparable from the other ideological state apparatuses get their instruction. It gets its instructions from the centre of power. How? Through the training methodology that it receives from its training academies. In other words whoever it is who is responsible for training the police is the architect of their behavior par excellence.

There is a fable that is exchanged sometime when folks speak about the police. That if you were in a relationship with a dame and you happen to have a misunderstanding and she resorted to call the police because you slapped her they will be at your premises before you can finish whistling a falsetto tune. But that should you find your self abused by the dame and you happen to report her the police will just laugh you off and tell you that you are man-jelly and not man enough for her. Such is the myth. However in the face of violence that the police can afflict on people to a point of people losing their lives the police stand out as a menace and the urban legend referred to acquires a concrete specification.

Now what the center of power in our republic should be learning from loss of lives during peaceful demonstration of service delivery is that the plight of the people has moved away from political emancipation to service emancipation. The center of power through the various ideological state apparatuses or various government service delivery systems is that it should deliver equal services to all. Or a terrible monster that will eat itself groans terribly within and it is a matter of time that an implosion occurs.

25 April

Mmutle Arthur Kgokong 2011