Career officer gets top job

Newly appointed police commissioner Gen Khehla Sitole plans to turn around policing in SA.

Sitole is the first career policeman to be appointed to permanently head the police service since the advent of democracy — with the exception of George Fivas who was appointed by Nelson Mandela in 1995. Jackie Selebi, Bheki Cele and Riah Phiyega, the other substantive commissioners, were political appointments.

Speaking to Business Day a few hours after his appointment, the former divisional commissioner for protection and security services said he looked forward to unveiling his turnaround strategy at a media briefing on Thursday.

Sitole has served in the South African Police Service (SAPS) for 31 years after beginning his career as a student constable during the apartheid government era.

“I am a patriotic person, I love my country and I feel honoured to be given the opportunity to serve the country,” Sitole said.

“I am also acknowledging the confidence that the state has demonstrated by vesting this opportunity on me to serve and turn policing around in the country,” he said.

Sitole replaced Lt-Gen Lesetja Mothiba who had been acting in the position.

His predecessor, Phiyega, was suspended in 2015 pending a decision of a board of inquiry that later found she was unfit for the role.

Policing experts have long criticised President Jacob Zuma and Thabo Mbeki before him for not appointing career police officers.

In a statement that announced Sitole’s appointment, Zuma said the new police commissioner had a wealth of operational and managerial experience and had grown through the ranks.

Sitole has the mammoth task of invigorating the morale of SAPS officers, who according to policing trade unions have been struggling in the absence of a permanent head of the police.

The unions have decried the state of the police service, saying the absence of a national commissioner was hampering units such as detectives and crime intelligence where critical posts needed to be filled.