The South African Police Service (SAPS) is the national police force of the Republic of South Africa. Its 1,154 police stations in South Africa are divided according to the provincial borders, and a Provincial Commissioner is appointed in each province. The nine Provincial Commissioners report directly to the National Commissioner. The head office is in the Wachthuis Building in Pretoria.
False arrest, unlawful arrest or wrongful arrest is a common law tort, where a plaintiff alleges they were held in custody without probable cause, or without an order issued by a court of competent jurisdiction. Although it is possible to sue law enforcement officials for false arrest, the usual defendants in such cases are private security firms.
Police misconduct is inappropriate conduct and illegal actions taken by police officers in connection with their official duties. Types of misconduct include among others: sexual offences, coerced false confession, intimidation, false arrest, false imprisonment, falsification of evidence, spoliation of evidence, police perjury, witness tampering, police brutality, police corruption, racial profiling, unwarranted surveillance, unwarranted searches, and unwarranted seizure of property.
Prior to 1994, immigrants from elsewhere faced discrimination and even violence in South Africa due to competition for scarce economic opportunities. After majority rule in 1994, contrary to expectations, the incidence of xenophobia increased. In 2008, at least 62 people were killed in the xenophobic uprising and attacks. In 2015, another nationwide spike in xenophobic attacks against immigrants in general prompted a number of foreign governments to begin repatriating their citizens. A Pew Research poll conducted in 2018 showed that 62% of South Africans expressed negative sentiment about foreign nationals living and working in South Africa, believing that immigrants are a burden on society by taking jobs and social benefits and that 61% of South Africans thought that immigrants were more responsible for crime than other groups. There is no factual evidence to substantiate the notion that immigrants are the main culprits of criminal activity in South Africa, even though the claim is incorrectly made in sometimes by politicians and public figures. Between 2010 and 2017 the number of foreigners living in South Africa increased from 2 million people to 4 million people. The proportion of South Africa's total population that is foreign born increased from 2.8% in 2005 to 7% in 2019, according to the United Nations International Organization for Migration, South Africa is the largest recipient of immigrants on the African continent.
The Johannesburg Central Police Station is a South African Police Service police station in downtown Johannesburg, South Africa. From its unveiling in 1968 until September 1997, it was called John Vorster Square, after Prime Minister B.J. Vorster.
The Blackheath train accident occurred at 7:03 a.m. on 25 August 2010 when a Metrorail commuter train crashed into a minibus taxi on the Buttskop Road level crossing in Blackheath, a suburb of Cape Town, South Africa. The minibus was carrying fourteen children to school; nine died on the scene and five were hospitalised. One of the injured children died two days later in the Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital. The minibus driver was also hospitalised; there were no injuries aboard the train.
Anni Ninna Dewani was a Swedish woman of Indian origin who was murdered while on her honeymoon in South Africa after the taxi in which she and her husband Shrien Dewani were traveling was hijacked.
The Hectorspruit level crossing accident occurred at approximately 7 a.m. on 13 July 2012, when a Witbank to Maputo coal train collided with a truck on a controlled level crossing near Hectorspruit, Mpumalanga, South Africa.
Bharat Kalicharan, also known as Akku Yadav, was an Indian gangster, robber, home invader, kidnapper, serial rapist, murderer and extortionist. Yadav grew up in the Kasturba Nagar slum, which is outside the Indian central city of Nagpur, Maharashtra. He lived and did business in the slum which housed a number of criminals and two rival gangs.
The death of Sammy Yatim occurred early in the morning of July 27, 2013, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Yatim, an 18-year-old Toronto male armed with a switchblade knife, was shot at nine times, and was hit by eight of the shots fired by 30-year-old Toronto Police Service (TPS) officer James Forcillo. After being shot, while lying on the floor of the streetcar he was tasered. He later died from the injuries. The incident occurred after Yatim, brandishing a 12 cm (4.7 in) switchblade knife in a Toronto streetcar, advanced on a passenger, threatened other passengers, and exposed himself. The confrontation between Yatim and the police was recorded and footage of it was released publicly, prompting strong reactions across Canada.
Radovan Krejčíř is a Czech former organized crime boss and convicted criminal who is serving a prison term in South Africa and is being sought for extradition by the Czech government. He has been sentenced to 15.5 years in the Czech Republic and 35 years in South Africa.
The trial of Oscar Pistorius for the murder of Reeva Steenkamp and several gun-related charges in the High Court of South Africa in Pretoria opened on 3 March 2014. Pistorius was a leading South African runner who won attention as an athlete with a disability competing at a high level, including at multiple Paralympic Games and the 2012 Summer Olympics. Steenkamp, a model, had been Pistorius's girlfriend for three months. In the early morning of Thursday, 14 February 2013, Steenkamp was shot and killed by Pistorius at his Pretoria home. Pistorius acknowledged that he shot Steenkamp, but he said that he mistook her for an intruder. Pistorius was taken into police custody and was formally charged with murder in a Pretoria court on 15 February 2013. The entire trial was broadcast live via audio, and parts of the trial were also broadcast live via television.
2015 in South Africa saw a number of social and political protests and movements form. At President Jacob Zuma's 2015 State of the Nation Address, the president was interrupted by an opposition party, the Economic Freedom Fighters, who demanded that he pay back the money used on his Nkandla homestead. South Africa also saw new xenophobic uprisings taking place, mainly targeted towards Africans from other countries. Foreigners were beaten, robbed and murdered during the attacks. The social protest Rhodes Must Fall started in 2015 at the University of Cape Town to protest for the removal of statues erected in South Africa during the colonial era depicting some of the well known colonists who settled in South Africa. In education, South Africa recorded a drop in its matric pass rate from 2013 to 2014. The protest #FeesMustFall was started towards the end of the year and achieved its primary goal of stopping an increase in university fees for 2016. South Africa also saw the discovery of Homo naledi in 2015. The South African national rugby union team came third in the 2015 Rugby World Cup and Trevor Noah started hosting The Daily Show on Comedy Central.
José Nascimento is a South African human rights lawyer who has been involved in promoting many humanitarian causes such as East Timor, Burma, and Western Sahara. In 1999 he was an international electoral observer for the UN referendum in East Timor and was also an electoral observer during the last South African National elections.
On July 18, 2013, Tyrone West, a 44-year-old African American male, was pursued by two officers of the Baltimore Police Department after he fled a traffic stop during which cocaine was allegedly found. The cocaine later went missing in police possession after a subpoena was issued. West was on parole at the time of this incident with an extensive criminal record including assault, resisting arrest, and attempted first-degree murder. West ultimately died during the scuffle with police and various medical experts have given conflicting assessments of contributing factors including cardiac arrhythmia, dehydration, positional asphyxia, and extreme environmental temperatures.
Macia is a name of Spanish origin. In Catalan, Macià is a variant of the given name Maties. In Spanish, Macía is a variant of the surname Macias.
Nathaniel “Lockie” Julies, a 16 year-old boy with down syndrome, was fatally shot allegedly by South African Police Service (SAPS) officers Sergeant Simon ‘Scorpion’ Ndyalvane and Constable Caylene Whiteboy on the 26 August 2020. A third suspect, Detective Voster Netshiongolo, appeared before the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court. Julies was shot meters away from his home in the Eldorado Park area of Johannesburg, Gauteng.
Babita Deokaran was a South African whistleblower murdered for reporting corruption at the Gauteng Department of Health where she was working as the acting chief director financial accounting officer.
Malefetsane Joel Mafereka, also known as Joe Mafereka, was a South African politician and businessman who represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the Free State Provincial Legislature from 1994 to 2009. He served as the Free State's Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Sports, Arts, Culture, Science and Technology from 2004 to 2005 and as MEC for Local Government and Housing from 2005 to 2009.
