Shoot to Kill : Police and Power in South Africa

Shoot to Kill: Police and Power in South Africa is a vivid and ambitious surveyof the complex politics of security, crime and social control in South Africa. Nearly three decades after the formal end of apartheid, policing in SouthAfrica continues to be defined by brutality, incompetence and corruption. Rather than protecting communities and ensuring justice for victims, thestate and private security often enforce cruel wealth, racial and genderinequities. As our society becomes less safe and more divided, Shoot toKill: Police and Power in South Africa asks how did the South African PoliceService (SAPS) become this way and are they our best chance for safety?From the slave-driver’s whip in the 18th century Cape Colony to thedystopian armoured vehicles of our present, this book traces the secrethistory of the police through colonial wars, apartheid atrocities and hypercapitaliststate capture. Featuring unapologetic critiques of elite power andthe stifling politics of fear, while informed by global discussions on policeabolition, Shoot to Kill: Police and Power in South Africa calls for a societybased on democracy and justice. Author Christopher McMichael speaks tothe realities of our world increasingly defined by militarised injustice andoutlines ways we can escape from this rusty cage.