South Africa police shootings rise by 25%

| Friday March 26, 2010 00:00

The number of people killed by South African police was up by more than 25% on the previous year, new figures show. The Independent Complaints Directorate say that 556 people died from April 2008 to March 2009.

The news comes as politicians debate an amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act about the use of force by police.

Comments by senior ministers recommending a shoot-to-kill policy have provoked a heated argument about police violence in the country.

In 2008 South Africa's deputy Minister for Safety and Security, Susan Shabangu said police should shoot to kill criminals following the death of many police officers in the line of duty.

South Africa has one of the highest rates of violent crime in the world and the country's police chief, Bheki Cele has also defended the use of 'deadly force' by police when necessary.

But opposition parties and other rights groups claim lethal force has caused an increase in the loss of innocent lives.

In November 2009 there was outrage over the shooting of a three-year-old boy by a police officer who allegedly mistook a pipe the boy was carrying for a gun.

And in the same month two off-duty police officers allegedly shot and killed a street vendor while 'under the influence of alcohol'.

A spokesman for the Independent Complaints Directorate said many of the shootings are in self defence, many are accidental - where for example people are killed in crossfire - and some even involve police using guns in domestic violence incidents.