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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Vol. 37 No. 3. March 20, 1974

Failure of Police to Communicate with Crowd

Failure of Police to Communicate with Crowd

Few commentators since Sharpeville have attempted to justify the action of the police. In fact, many of them have drawn special attention to the complete failure of the police to communicate with the crowd at the Police Station. If it had been a white crowd the police would have tried to find out why they were there and what they wanted. Surely their failure to do so was due to the fact that it never occurred to them, as the custodians of public order, page 3 either to negotiate with the African leaders, or to try to persuade the crowd to disperse. Their attitude was summed up by the statement of Colonel Pienaar that "the Native mentality docs not allow them to gather for a peaceful demonstration. For them to gather means violence." The same point was demonstrated even more graphically by one of his answers at the Court of Enquiry under Mr. Justice Vessels. When asked if he had learnt any useful lesson from the events in Sharpeville he replied. "Well, we may get better equipment."

What happened at Sharpeville emphasizes how far the police in South Africa are cut off from sympathy with or even understanding of Africans. At no time did the police express regret for this tragic happening.

Yet it would be folly to attempt to fasten the whole blame for the events at Sharpeville on the police. By the mass of repressive legislation which has been enacted every year since 1948, the South African Government has given the police a task which becomes ever more difficult to fulfil.

It was this legislation which was in-directly responsible for the tragedy of Sharpeville, and in particular, the "pass laws". Indeed, the immediate cause of many in the crowd assembling at the Police Station was the growing resentment of Africans to the system of passes.