The layers of dysfunction that led to the arrest of Windhoek mayor Sade Gawanas on Monday in Windhoek’s Okahandja Park and the fallout from the incident leaves no doubt that the Namibian Police need to seriously pull up their socks.
Every so often, we are reminded that our police force are more adapted to exert force than to provide a professional service that residents in all areas, including informal settlements, can be proud of.
Despite the ugly incident, this is an opportunity for them to pause and think about the level of service they deliver and how to improve urgently.
So far, the upper echelons of the police have shown exactly why they are not liked, trusted or respected.
There has been no apology, no commitment to do better and no indication from the top bras that they would not tolerate wild-west antics by their officers.
Instead of a mea culpa, the police doubled down and accused the mayor of all sorts of shenanigans and laid charges of their own.
They went further.
On Monday evening, they issued a vague statement, saying “acts of brutality and violence by police officers are not condoned”.
However, in the same statement, they say crime prevention-related matters must be solved amicably without violence – even when dealing with “unruly and uncooperative people, and intoxicated people too”.
This labeling is unacceptable.
The scenes on Monday, with scruffy-looking officers in plain clothes, brandishing assault weapons and acting boorish, should leave us in no doubt that something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
While the officers who arrested the mayor allege all manner of extenuating circumstances and reasons for their conduct and their subsequent opening of charges of crimen injuria and racial discrimination against the politician, the fact that they did not know the mayor, acted aggressively and tried to intimidate a woman in a city where gender-based violence, overwhelmingly committed against women, is a daily occurrence, are enough to make us ask the police to rethink their modus operandi.
Violence begets violence; disrespect too.
As it stands, Namibians are not proud of, nor feel safe in the presence of their police.
Mayor Gawanas didn’t feel respected or safe, and opened charges of crimen injuria, unlawful arrest and common assault against the police officers.
If past incidents are anything to go by, this will go nowhere, as dockets will disappear, and the officers will not be disciplined.
Trust in the police is generally low – and successes are few and far in between.
In recent years, excessive violence during protests and arrests have further helped to erode trust in and respect for the police, while criminal incidents involving members of the force have not helped.
Just this week, Namibia police chief Sebastian Ndeitunga had to warn officers to stop stealing fuel.
We all know police officers are poorly trained and earn relatively low salaries, but common decency and respect should be the very minimum we expect from them.
Those cost nothing.
They should not take out their frustration on the ordinary citizen.
The cowboy attitude of the officers caused the mayor’s engagement with deprived citizens to be abruptly ended and her day’s schedule further upended by the unnecessary fracas.
The situation instilled more fear and anger towards those we entrust with our safety.
In fact, the police top bras further inflamed the situation by their inertia – just as the officers at the incident did nothing to defuse the situation.
It’s time for the police bosses to show leadership and take the force out of the police – and change it to a service we can all be proud of and respect.