The purpose of this paper is to describe the structure of the South African Police (SAP) and analyse some of the reforms of the police force which have taken place since 1989. This is motivated by an understanding that the organization is one determinant of police behaviour.
This paper seeks to introduce the idea of forming alternative defence structures in the wake of the violence unleashed against citizens by security forces, vigilante groups and hit squads in the 1990s.
Dramatic developments in South African politics since mid-1991 put the spotlight on the critical role of the security forces in a transitional period of reform. Previous issues include media revelations of collusion between the security establishment and the lnkatha Freedom Party, biased policing of the violence and the reshuffle of the key Law & Order and Defence portfolios. To complement Clifford Shearing's review of the draft Peace Accord unveiled in August 1991, Janine Rauch evaluates previous institutional reforms within the South African Police.
In this paper the author traces some of the changes which occurred in the security establishment in 1990, tempers these with an examination of what has not changed, and investigates some of the processes which need to occur to ensure that, as far as the security forces are concerned, things do not ultimately stay the same.
This paper will seek to suggest that the operation of vigilante groups in South Africa's black areas since 1985 is an expression of the militarisation of South Africa, that the prevalence and operation of these groups should be seen as the internal equivalent of the strategy of destabilisation of neighbouring states.