The Enemy Is Among Us

• Author: Cindy Stewart
• Date: 01 December 2013
• DOI: 10.1177/1057567713513796
• Published date: 01 December 2013
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

The Enemy Is Among Us:

Media Images of Police in

South Africa During the

Transition From Apartheid

to Democracy

Cindy Stewart

1

Abstract

As the end of apartheid neared, the process of police reform was extremely important as the new

South African Government was about to inherit an oppressive police force that was often seen as

the enemy of democratic reform. Beginning in 1990, authorities and community members

contemplated how police reform might work. During apartheid, police were seen as coercive,

oppressive, and violent; an important part of police reform efforts was to establish a new image of

police. Examining (1) how newspapers framed images of police in South Africa, (2) how the image of

police changed over time, and (3) whether media images of police changed from one of conflict to

one of consensus reflecting the political transition from apartheid to democracy, I argue that the

media image of the South African police service during the transition from apartheid to democracy

hindered the ability of community policing efforts to flourish.

Keywords

South Africa, South African police service, community policing, police reform, frame analysis

Introduction

In 1994, the apartheid era in South Africa ended. Nelson Mandela was elected president, which

symbolized the birth of a democratic government and a new way of life for South Africans. One of

the many challenges of transforming the South African government from one of apartheid ideals to

one of democratic ideals included changing the image of the police. Apartheid era police had a

reputation of being coercive, oppressive, and violent. Literature documents that citizens of South

Africa were largely afraid of the police and terms often associated with democratic styles of

1

Department of Criminology, College of Mount St. Joseph, Cincinnati, OH, USA

Corresponding Author:

Cindy Stewart, College of Mount St. Joseph, Department of Criminology, 5701 Delhi Rd, Cincinnati, OH 45233, USA.

Email: cindy_stewart@mail.msj.edu

International CriminalJustice Review

2013, Vol. 23(4) 333-356

ª2013 Georgia State University

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DOI: 10.1177/1057567713513796

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policing, such as trust, respect, and cooperation, were not used to describe the South African Police

Force (SAP) or their relationship with the community (Weitzer, 1993).

The new South African government strove to change the image of police by implementing a

community style of policing that is used in some other democratic nations, such as the United States.

Community policing is a philosophy that promotes organizational strategies that support the

systematic use of partnerships between the police and the community and focuses on problem-

solving techniques in order to address public safety issues (Community Oriented Policing Services

[COPS], 2012). One objective of implementing a community policing strategy was to help transform

the image of police into a respectable democratic police organization and increase citizen’s trust,

respect, and cooperation of and with police.

As part of this transformation, the SAP was renamed as the South African Police Service (SAPS)

and key components of community policing were employed (Pelser, Schnetler, & Louw, 2002; for a

history of policing during the government transition see also Leggett, 2005 and Pruitt, 2010). One

key component of community policing is organizational transformation which ‘‘aligns organiza-

tional management, structure, personnel, and information systems to support community

partnerships and proactive problem solving’’ (COPS, 2012, p. 4). Establishing and maintaining

relationships between the SAPS and other governmental agencies, community members and groups,

private businesses, and media were important in transforming the image of police in South Africa.

According to Mawby(2002, p. 154), the image of the police develops from the ‘‘routine undertak-

ing of police work, involving countless police-public encounters which create impressions of the

police.’’ These impressions, which are essential to understandingthe public’s view of the policeimage,

develop while police fulfill normal duties, including law enforcement, community safety, and public

order maintenance (Mawby, 2002, pp. 154–155; see also Barak, 1994). Citizens encountering police

during these normal events develop an image of the police based on their personal experience. How-

ever, the image of police goes far beyond just those citizens involved in the event. The media plays a

crucial role in disseminating information about police–public encounters.Skogan (as cited in Mawby,

2002) suggests that twothirds of people find out about police through the media. Thus, media images

of police–public encounters play a crucial role in how the public views the police.

During the transition from apartheid to democracy, the SAPS was challenged to transform their

image as coercive, oppressive, and violent toward an image where citizens believed the police could

be trusted and respected and thereby elicit cooperative behavior. Theoretically, a transition from an

apartheid system to a democratic system suggests there be a cultural transformation from a culture

based on conflict to one based on consensus. The SAPS was tasked with making this challenging

transformation.

Conflict theory asserts there are opposing goals between groups and suggests there ‘‘exists an

elite which uses law as a means of meeting and controlling threats to its social position through the

criminalization of the threatening acts of those groups without power’’ (Klein, Webb, & DiSanto,

1978, p. 443; see also Horowitz, 1962; Marx, 1963; McDonald, 1976; Meier, 1976; Mills, 1956;

Quinney, 1970). From this perspective, the police are seen as an instrument for maintaining power

through coercive, oppressive, and often violent measures. Conflict may be manifest in expressions of

citizen antagonism of police in the form of civil disorder, overt attacks on police, police hostility

toward citizens (often in the form of harassment), differential law enforcement, and/or police

brutality.

In contrast, consensus theory suggests a high level of agreement between groups where law is a

codification of shared values. Police legitimacy develops from a high level of agreement regarding

the criminality of certain acts and/or procedural fairness (Klein et al., 1978, p. 442; see also

Horowitz, 1962; Mawby, 2002; Scheff, 1967; Spitzer, 1976; Tyler, 2004). Consensus may be man-

ifested in expressions of cooperation, deference (i.e., respect of authority, police legitimacy), and/or

coordination of activities between the police and the community.

334 International Criminal Justice Review 23(4)