The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Police, Mr Ian Cameron, has called on the South African Police Service (SAPS) management to suspend every member of the SAPS arrested over the past week, pending finalisation of internal investigations.
“The sanctity of the investigations is dependent not only on justice being done, but also on the appearance that justice is done. It is essential for the credibility of the investigations as well as the SAPS reputation that arrested senior officers are suspended until the conclusion of the investigations,” Mr Cameron emphasised.
The Chairperson has noted that the SAPS have in the recent past taken a nonchalant attitude towards errant officers, returning them to work despite serious criminal charges. While the Chairperson acknowledges that everyone is presumed innocent unless proven otherwise, investigations must be completed urgently to ensure that only fit and proper individuals serve within the SAPS,” Mr Cameron emphasised.
The arrest of senior officers within the Crime Intelligence service has laid bare the level of rot within the environment. This has a chilling effect when considering the centrality of CI in combating crime in the country. “It is clear that a major pillar to fight crime has been disabled through rogue officers who are inclined to act criminally,” Mr Cameron said.
It is on this basis that a skills audit within the senior echelons of SAPS is necessary. Also, periodic lifestyle audits must be undertaken, especially in the CI environment and senior management of SAPS,” Mr Cameron contended.
Mr Cameron reiterated that the committee will not be complicit and allow rogue SAPS to remain unaccountable. “We will continue to insist that every rogue officer must be removed from the service to protect the reputation of the service,” Mr Cameron concluded.
The committee will soon schedule a meeting to assess the impact of the arrests and processes to be followed in instituting internal consequence management.
Africa Fact: The Great Zimbabwe was the largest of these ruins. It consists of 12 clusters of buildings, spread over 3 square miles. Its outer walls were made from 100,000 tons of granite bricks. In the fourteenth century, the city housed 18,000 people, comparable in size to that of London of the same period.
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