Ipid records high number of police criminal cases in the Western Cape
|Published
Cape Town - The high number of Western Cape police officers being probed by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) is cause for concern, the provincial government says.
The second-quarter Ipid report for the 2023-24 financial year shows that in the Western Cape, between July and September last year, 196 cases were registered for investigation with the entity. Of the 1 276 cases countrywide, the Western Cape has the second highest behind Gauteng’s 210.
Among others, the 196 cases consisted of 146 assaults, 22 of discharging an official firearm, 15 deaths in police custody, 15 deaths as a result of police action, and 5 rapes by police officials.
The latest officer to be in the crosshairs of the law is a Mitchells Plain police detective arrested and dismissed after 15 firearms were reported missing from the station’s SAP-13 storeroom in November last year.
The storeroom is where all exhibits and evidence used in criminal cases are kept. It was discovered on November 21 that the weapons, destined for forensic testing at a laboratory, had vanished. The theft was believed to have taken place over six months.
Police Oversight and Community Safety MEC Reagen Allen said the high number of cases was deeply worrying.
“It suggests that there is an unacceptable level of ill-discipline within the ranks of the SAPS that requires urgent attention. It’s a complete travesty that the very service members that should be protecting all of us while upholding the law have made themselves guilty of committing crime.
“Deaths, rapes and any other crime committed by a SAPS officer will never be condoned. It is further alarming as the report at a national level also shows that Ipid has a backlog of 12 489 cases, of which 2 217 are in this province. Ipid should urgently address this,” said Allen.
He said that nationally, Ipid referred 458 cases to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) for criminal prosecution. Of these, 87, the most in the country, are from the Western Cape. To date, the NPA has not determined whether any of the 87 cases will be prosecuted.
“We cannot have men and women in blue dragging the name of the service down and further eroding the public’s trust in the SAPS.
“It’s enough that many residents have to deal with actual criminals and they do not need so-called officers of the law conducting themselves in this manner. The guilty ones do not deserve the uniform.”
Meanwhile, the select committee on security and justice has extended the deadline for written submissions on the Ipid Amendment Bill to February 2.
The bill seeks to amend the Ipid Act, 2011, in order to provide for Ipid’s institutional and operational independence.
Committee chairperson Ms Shahidabibi Shaikh said: “The bill also aims to provide for Ipid to investigate any deaths caused by the actions of SAPS members or members of a municipal police service, whether the member was on or off duty; to provide for Ipid to investigate a rape committed by an SAPS member or a member of a municipal police service, whether the member was on or off duty; to strengthen the provisions relating to the implementation of disciplinary recommendations; to provide for a savings provision regarding the conditions of service of existing investigators and provincial heads; and to amend other provisions so as to ensure that Ipid executes its mandate effectively and efficiently.”
zolani.sinxo@inl.co.za