Ten years ago today, Andries Tatane died after being shot with rubber bullets at close range by police in Ficksburg. The officers who stood trial for the killing were all acquitted and kept their jobs. Last month, Mthokozisi Ntumba was shot and killed in similar circumstances. Viewfinder's analysis of hundreds of crowd management related complaints against the police - registered in the years between the killings of Tatane and Ntumba - reveals that police are not held accountable for the alleged misuse of rubber bullets. The anonymity afforded by riot gear and the vagueness over the use of rubber bullets at close range still protects Public Order Police officers from the consequences.

There is no accurate statistic for the number of people killed by police with rubber bullets in the ten years since Andries Tatane's death was broadcast on television. Yet, some of the main contributing factors in Tatane's killing - and in the acquittal of his alleged killers - have been left unchecked. People have certainly been killed in similar ways by police as a result. Some of them, like Mthokozisi Ntumba, we know about. Many, we probably do not.

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