According to the 17th century philosopher Thomas Hobbes, people cannot be free without the existence of a state that is capable of protecting their basic liberties - what we call human rights. This is something to bear in mind as we celebrate human rights day today.

According to Hobbes, without a state to protect citizens, society would resemble a war of all-against-all. Life would be "nasty, brutish and short."

Despite the existence of a state in South Africa - and a democratic one at that - life for many is "nasty, brutish and short." This is certainly true for the 300,000 South Africans that have been murdered since 1994.

What we are seeing in South Africa is the failure of the state to carry out one of its basic functions - to protect its citizens from each other. There may not be a war of all-against-all in the Hobbesian sense, but there is a war being waged between violent criminals and honest, law-abiding South Africans.

So where are the police in all of this? It must be said that there are many, many honest and good police officers that carry out their duties under the most difficult circumstances. The problem of crime is not their failure; it is the failure of the government to implement effective crime-fighting policies. It is a failure of leadership.

The National Police Commissioner is implicated in a corrupt relationship with a known drug lord, while the Minister of Safety and Security consistently downplays the problem of crime instead of confronting it head-on.

This lack of leadership is not limited to the top. It extends to every police station. Recently, it was revealed in Parliament that only 10% of police station commissioners are adequately trained to head them, because, once again, performance is secondary to political pressures.

As senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies, Johan Burger said last week:

"People currently in these key posts are not really equipped for the job. They are simply placed in these positions without any experience or knowledge, to achieve equity targets."

Even the most qualified and experienced police officers would be overwhelmed by the extent of South Africa 's battle against violent criminals. What chance do rookie police officers have of running a police station effectively under these conditions?

A disturbing trend that can be attributed directly to a lack of leadership and a lack of skills is the increasingly brutal treatment meted out to innocent members of the public by police.

In terms of the state's constitutional obligation to protect the human rights of its citizens, this is a double whammy. Not only are people threatened by criminals, but by a police force that is increasingly using force against people it should protect.

According to the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD), the body mandated to oversee police conduct, there were 698 deaths of people either in police custody or as a result of police action in 2006/7. This figure increased by 11% compared to the previous year.

I believe that the increase in police brutality is the direct consequence of a frustrated police force, rudderless and ill-equipped, turning on its citizens - the soft targets - in a misguided bid to salvage credibility.

There have been a number of instances of this recently. Last week, informal traders in Mitchells Plain in Cape Town were attacked by police in full riot gear. In January, police raided a Johannesburg church housing refugees. The police allegedly made xenophobic remarks, held guns to people's heads and packed women and children on to the back of a truck.

The manner in which university students were recently assaulted by heavily armed police in Stellenbosch nightspots has provoked the most outrage. It is alleged that students were shoved around, sprayed with mace and women were indecently molested. When the owner of one of the bars protested, he was punched in the face and his hands were tied behind his back with cable.

I am all in favour of the police taking a tougher stance against drug abuse and drug peddling. 80% of the crimes that are perpetrated in this country are linked to substance abuse. Any indication that the police have been shaken out of their own ‘narcolepsy' should be welcomed.

But the problem in this case is the target. Why take aim at students when drug dealers are able to operate with impunity in our poorer communities? Why is the full force of the law not directed at them?

The answer is clear. Instead of tackling the problem head-on - in the drug dens and the smokkelhuise - it is easier to attack a soft target to give the impression that something is being done.

It is also easier to target people who fall outside of the web of complicity between the police and drug dealers in every seriously drug-ravaged community in the country. In these areas, unlike in the student bars around Stellenbosch, drug peddlers get away with plying their illicit trade precisely because they are protected by the police in return for a pay-off.

These recent events must lead us to question who the real targets are in the war against crime. Who are the police protecting? Is it the criminals or the innocent people that live in fear of them?

It is encouraging that the recent acts of police brutality have provoked widespread outrage and are being highlighted by the Human Rights Commission and the ICD. The South African Police Service must now take steps to deal with it.

Police brutality has no place in a democratic South Africa in which all citizens' human rights are protected by the Constitution. In terms of their own safety and security, South Africans have enough to be worried about without living in fear of the police too.

Article published in SA Today, the weekly letter of the leader of the Democratic Alliance, March 21 2008