Research lacking on racial bias in SA police's use of force:

The Institute for Security Studies (ISS)'s Johan Burger says the reach is lacking on whether there is racial bias in the South African Poclei Service (SAPS)'s response to black citizens as opposed to white citizens. 

This comes in the wake of the death of Mthokozisi Ntumba in the Wits student protest this week. 

On Thursday, police Minister Bheki Cele was asked about whether the police are particularly violent towards black people, and said he did not believe it was the reality for all of SAPS. 

However, he acceded that "slowly, slowly it's becoming very difficult to defend it" when the police do act aggressively against black citizens. 

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"I don't agree that it is generic, but there will be elements of such in the organisation," said Cele. 

Burger says there is simply not enough data to determine if there is a racial motivation for how the police respond, but says it was clear that the police overreached their powers on Tuesday when they shot and killed Ntumba. 

"The police certainly seemed to be unnecessarily aggressive in the way they acted," he says. 

"It looks like there was no proper command in control," he added noting that police officers were acting against their own national regulations that state they should resort to offensive tactics only as a last resort. 

President Cyril Ramaphosa has condemned the incident on Tuesday, while Cele said it seems as if someone "just went crazy."