Urgent reforms needed for SAPS: Experts call for professionalisation to combat corruption

Professionalisation of the South African Police Service (SAPS), ensuring that the appointments for the national police commissioners are transparent and that interviews be held in public, are some of the key changes needed as part of the organisational clean-up in the police, following claims of political interference, and links to criminal cartels, experts say.

Professor William Gumede, a governance expert from Wits University, stated that the country should bring back merit-based and professional appointments to the police as a start.

“One of the reasons we are here (corruption and criminal cartel links) is because of cadre deployment within the police. Most former national police commissioners were politicians. When you appoint politicians as police commissioners, you can expect failure, political interference, etc. You can expect that they have to report to their political masters, not the public,” Gumede stated. 

He added that no politicians or persons who have been in politics should be appointed as police commissioners at the national and provincial levels, and that appointments must be transparent, and interviews must be public.

“An audit of all police personnel must be instituted to root out people without integrity. We need an audit of assets under the crime intelligence and the SAPS. We really need to strengthen the administrative component of the police so that the police on the ground can do their jobs easily,” he said.

Gumede stated that procurement is a big issue across government departments. 

“We must professionalise procurement in the police. People think that it’s corruption, and it’s fine. The thing is, you procure to deliver a service, and then the service providers don’t deliver, and they don’t pay back the money. As a result, we lose our money, and we also don’t get the service,” Gumede said.

He added that when service providers pay bribes to politicians instead of delivering the services they are contracted for, that is where the country loses a lot of money.

“On the other side, SARS increases taxes, and it’s not a tax issue. We have to close the loop on the type of money that is lost through corruption, bribery, and mismanagement,” Gumede said.

He highlighted that the police force is too small compared to the population and the crimes that South Africa is dealing with, and it must be increased.

“In modern crimes, things are happening online (cybercrime), such as gambling, etc. Even in investigations, you now need DNA technology, and so on. But our police intake does not bring the capacity to the service. When you only have a matric, you can’t bring the competence of dealing with sophisticated crimes online, cyber crimes, cross-border crimes,” he stated.

“We need to bring in more qualified personnel into the police intake by employing young people with degrees in computer science, engineering, law, accounting, and then people with matric. We need to bring thousands of professionals into the police as quickly as possible. We need at least 100,000 and 200,000 people with degrees between now and 2029. It is a job-creating opportunity at the same time,” Gumede said. 

He said South Africa needs a proper, fully functional 24-hour complaints system, something that’s working, so when you phone, you don’t get stuck on the other end. 

“We have to hold people accountable. Right now, civil society involvement in relation to the SAPS is in two forms: one of Community Policing Forums, and NGOs that do safety and security studies,” he said.   

He added that the country is missing civic organisations that are holding the police accountable with regard to day-to-day action, especially at a local level, without interfering in police business and police operations.

“The civic organisations should have regular assessments with the police to ensure accountability to the communities, even in terms of investigations. The police should regularly brief the community on what they are doing and have community meetings where the community asks the police what to do. We don’t have that in the system as part of the community participation in the townships or rural areas,” Gumede said.

He added that Parliament has not held the police responsible in the past, and that most parliamentarians need to be taught about conflict of interest, because it appears that people don’t understand it. He said police must also be taught about conflicts of interest and declare them.

“There must be lifestyle audits for everyone regularly, and spot checks of lifestyle audits,” Gumede said.

He added that people need to be fired if they don’t meet targets, and that the reason people continue to underperform is that “we can’t fire people even if they don’t deliver”.

“Firstly, maybe we can say, no bonuses and no incentives for people who don’t deliver. People set soft targets to deliver, which are easy to meet. I mean, in some government departments, I asked them what their targets are, and they told me that going to meetings is a target. Then they give themselves bonuses because of that. How can going to a meeting be a target? The Madlanga Commission has given us an opening as the public. We must hold people accountable for what they are doing,” he stated.

Gumede stated that the country is not linking complaints to the performance of the people in public institutions, and it is not adequately protecting whistle-blowers.

Professor Sipho Seepe, a political analyst from the University of Zululand, said the appointment of the national commissioner must be a public process, not the president’s sole prerogative. 

He added that in many instances, those appointed due to their proximity to political leaders tend to be loyal to their political masters and not the South African public.

On corruption allegations that have been heard at the Madlanga Commission, Seepe said as long as money plays a role in South African politics, “we are going to see these scenes play out”. 

“Those with deep pockets (money) often look to fund those with political ambitions to gain influence in government should their backed candidate ascend to power. In the category of funders, you find businesses and criminals,” Seepe said.

He stated that in all people who are politicians and are linked to the criminal cartels, there has been an exchange of money.

“As long as society does not have the appetite for asking people to step aside from their positions of power when allegations surface, those in leadership positions will continue to exchange favours for money because society is not holding them accountable by demanding their removal,” Seepe said.

Professor Siphamandla Zondi, a political analyst from the University of Johannesburg, stated that for the SAPS to be on track, there needs to be a commitment from Parliament and political leadership that is not contaminated with cartels and criminal networks.

“We need the kind of political commitment that genuinely seeks to fundamentally transform the criminal justice sector. There must be a commitment to clean governance, and it must be institutionalised. The president must commit to uprooting corruption in the entire criminal justice sector,” Zondi said.

gcwalisile.khanyile@inl.co.za