# Gregory Rockman

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{{Short description|South African politician and dissident policeman}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| party       = [African National Congress](/source/African_National_Congress)
| office1     = [Member of the National Assembly](/source/National_Assembly_of_South_Africa)
| term_start1 = May 1994
| term_end1   = 1 May 2000
| citizenship = [South Africa](/source/South_Africa)
| birth_date  = {{birth date and age|1959|01|29|df=yes}}
| other_party = [Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union](/source/Police_and_Prisons_Civil_Rights_Union)
}}

'''Gregory Rockman''' (born 29 January 1959) is a South African politician and former policeman who founded the [Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union](/source/Police_and_Prisons_Civil_Rights_Union) (POPCRU) and served as its inaugural president from 1989 to 1994. After that he represented the [African National Congress](/source/African_National_Congress) (ANC) in the [National Assembly](/source/National_Assembly_of_South_Africa) from 1994 to 2000.

Rockman was a lieutenant in the [apartheid](/source/apartheid)-era [South African Police](/source/South_African_Police) in [Mitchells Plain](/source/Mitchells_Plain) until September 1989, when he came forward to corroborate allegations of [police brutality](/source/police_brutality) against anti-apartheid protestors. His claims led to criminal charges against two white officers and contributed to public pressure for police and political reform in South Africa. He founded POPCRU in November 1989 for other dissident policemen and continued to lead it after he was fired from the police force for his political activity in March 1990.

== Police career and POPCRU ==
Rockman was born on 29 January 1959.<ref name=":023">{{cite magazine |date=11 June 1999 |title=General Notice: Notice 1319 of 1999 – Electoral Commission: Representatives Elected to the Various Legislatures |url=https://gazettes.africa/archive/za/1999/za-government-gazette-dated-1999-06-11-no-20203.pdf |magazine=[Government Gazette of South Africa](/source/Government_Gazette_of_South_Africa) |location=Pretoria, South Africa |publisher=[Government of South Africa](/source/Government_of_South_Africa) |volume=408 |issue=20203 |pages= |access-date=26 March 2021}}</ref> He was the son of an automotive machinist and was classified as [coloured](/source/Coloureds) under [apartheid](/source/apartheid)-era racial classification laws.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=1989-09-07 |title=A police officer points a finger at his own colleagues |url=https://mg.co.za/article/1989-09-08-00-a-police-officer-points-a-finger-at-his-own-colleagues/ |access-date=2023-04-15 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |date=14 November 1989 |title=Rebel South African policeman is arrested |url=https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/11968644.rebel-south-african-policeman-is-arrested/ |access-date=2023-04-15 |website=Herald Scotland |language=en}}</ref> He joined the [South African Police](/source/South_African_Police) in 1977, at the age of the 18, in his account because he "wanted to serve my community as a protector".<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite web |date=1989-10-23 |title=S. Africa Hero: Color Him Blue |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-10-23-vw-437-story.html |access-date=2023-04-15 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref> By 1989, he was a lieutenant in the crime prevention division at the police station in the coloured neighbourhood of [Mitchells Plain, Cape Town](/source/Mitchells_Plain).<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4" />

=== Whistleblowing ===
Rockman made international news on 6 September 1989,<ref name=":2" /> the day of [that year's general election](/source/1989_South_African_general_election), when he came forward with allegations of police brutality against protestors in Cape Town. The election had been preceded by nationwide unrest among the non-white majority, in which several people were allegedly killed in clashes with police, and Rockman told the [South African Press Association](/source/South_African_Press_Association) that the unrest in Mitchells Plain had been caused by the "brutal and unprofessional conduct" of the [riot police](/source/riot_police), who he said had teargassed, beaten, and whipped peaceful protestors, including schoolchildren, and curious onlookers. When Rockman tried to intervene, he was threatened with arrest by the riot police's commanding officer.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":5">{{Cite news |last=Wren |first=Christopher S. |date=1989-09-09 |title=Pretoria officer tells of abuses |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/09/09/world/pretoria-officer-tells-of-abuses.html |access-date=2023-04-15 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

Rockman said that he was not prepared to act as an "oppressor" to his community.<ref name=":2" /> According to him, his decision to speak out publicly about police brutality had been "a long time coming" and many of his colleagues shared his concerns:<ref name=":2" /><blockquote>But they’re scared to talk because regulations bind them. I’m not willing for the regulations to bind me any further. I’m defying them... I don’t care whether they lock me up or what they do. They can do as they please but that won’t change me.<ref name=":2" /></blockquote>

=== Aftermath ===
The ''[New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)'' said that Rockman's account lent credence to activists' accounts of police brutality and undermined the police force's credibility.<ref name=":5" /> Under public pressure, [Adriaan Vlok](/source/Adriaan_Vlok)'s Ministry of Law and Order quickly appointed an inquiry to investigate Rockman's claims, banned the use of police whips, and declared publicly that it would not intervene in "peaceful and orderly protest".<ref>{{Cite web |date=1989-09-14 |title=General Fixit, the cop who seldom solves it |url=https://mg.co.za/article/1989-09-15-00-general-fixit-the-cop-who-seldom-solves-it/ |access-date=2023-04-15 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}</ref><ref name=":4" /> Two riot squad officers, a white major and lieutenant, were charged with assault for their role in the violent response to the 5 September protests, and Rockman served as the prosecution's chief witness, testifying that the men had "stormed the kids like wild dogs".<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":4" /><ref name=":3" /> The judge said that the police response was "not only illegal but utterly reprehensible", but the defendants were acquitted because they had not "consciously identified" with the actions of the subordinates who had carried out the response.<ref name=":4" />

At the same time, Vlok opened an investigation into Rockman for breaking police rules by giving interviews to journalists.<ref name=":4" /> In November 1989, shortly after Rockman formed the [Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union](/source/Police_and_Prisons_Civil_Rights_Union) (POPCRU), he was transferred to a different police station in [Pinelands](/source/Pinelands%2C_Cape_Town); he was subsequently arrested for attending an illegal gathering – a protest against his own transfer – and suspended from the police force.<ref name=":3" /> In March 1990, Rockman announced that he would not participate in the police's internal disciplinary hearing against him, because he did not expect to receive a fair hearing. Later the same week, he was fired from the police force for his "involvement in strikes".<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |date=1990-03-22 |title=Rockman gets the sack |url=https://mg.co.za/article/1990-03-23-00-rockman-gets-the-sack/ |access-date=2023-04-15 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}</ref>

Also in March 1990, POPCRU organised South Africa's first police strike since 1917.<ref name=":6" /> An unrecognised union for dissident policemen and correctional officers, it led several major protests over the next few years, advocating for the reform of policing in non-white areas and for the abolition of apartheid.<ref name=":7">{{Cite news |date=27 October 1993 |title=Racial and Political Tensions Split South Africa's Police Force |work=Christian Science Monitor |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1993/1027/27022.html |access-date=2023-04-15 |issn=0882-7729}}</ref><ref name=":6" /> By 1993, the union had 15,000 members, mostly black,<ref name=":7" /> and Rockman remained its president until 1994.<ref name=":8">{{Cite news |date=15 March 2000 |title=Rockman asks to quit parliament |work=IOL |url=https://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/rockman-asks-to-quit-parliament-31746 |access-date=15 April 2023}}</ref>

== Parliament: 1994–2000 ==
In South Africa's [first post-apartheid elections](/source/1994_South_African_general_election) in 1994, Rockman was elected to represent the ANC in the [National Assembly](/source/National_Assembly_of_South_Africa),<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=24 May 1994 |title=Minutes of proceedings of the Constitutional Assembly |url=https://www.justice.gov.za/legislation/constitution/history/MINUTES/CA24054.PDF |access-date=2 April 2023 |publisher=Department of Justice and Constitutional Development}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=1998-06-03 |title=Members of the National Assembly |url=http://www.parliament.gov.za/mps/mps.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19980628034746/http://www.parliament.gov.za/mps/mps.html |archive-date=1998-06-28 |access-date=2023-04-12 |website=Parliament of South Africa}}</ref> and he was re-elected to his seat in [1999](/source/1999_South_African_general_election).<ref name=":02">{{Cite web |date=2002-06-02 |title=The National Assembly List of Resinations and Nominations |url=http://parliament.gov.za/na/resign.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020602095739/http://parliament.gov.za/na/resign.htm |archive-date=2 June 2002 |access-date=2023-04-02 |website=Parliament of South Africa}}</ref>

However, in March 2000, he announced that he had asked President [Thabo Mbeki](/source/Thabo_Mbeki) for permission to resign from Parliament in order to become chief executive of POPCRU's R10-million investment wing, established in 1999.<ref name=":8" /> His resignation took effect on 1 May 2000 and his seat in Parliament was filled by [Henry Fazzie](/source/Henry_Fazzie).<ref name=":02" />

== Personal life ==
In 1989 Rockman was married and had two young children.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4" />

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rockman, Gregory}}
Category:Living people
Category:1959 births
Category:Coloureds
Category:South African trade unionists
Category:South African whistleblowers
Category:South African police officers
Category:South African anti-apartheid activists
Category:African National Congress politicians
Category:Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 1994–1999
Category:Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 1999–2004

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Gregory Rockman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregory_Rockman) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregory_Rockman?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.