Mpembe 'lacked training'

North West police commissioner William Mpembe's crowd management training was questioned on Monday at the Farlam Commission of Inquiry.

 

 "It is common cause within the SA Police Service that international best practices have changed," said Michelle Le Roux, for the SA Human Rights Commission.

 

"You [Mpembe] have not received any formal training on the new approach," Le Roux said. The commission is investigating the deaths of 44 people killed during strike-related unrest at Lonmin's platinum mining operations at Marikana, near Rustenburg in North West in August last year.

 

Mpembe objected, and said police headquarters had, after the findings of the Goldstone Commission, gone out to provinces to train officers on new approaches to policing. "Also on the aspects of human rights, we received training to ensure that human rights are upheld," he said.

 

Mpembe, who joined the police in the 1980s, was the overall commander during the unrest at Marikana. Le Roux asked Mpembe whether he had received training on how to disarm people.

 

Mpembe said training on disarming crowds was included in the curriculum content he received back in 1986. "The disarming includes isolating a crowd and then concentrating on those who are armed... overpower them in terms of the resources at [your] disposal," he said. "You cannot disarm people without having dispersed them."

 

- Sapa