Crooked cops

One of the biggest payouts in recent legal history was ordered against police minister Bheki Cele, whose department must pay almost R100m in damages to the underwriters of Nedbank after a 2014 heist at a cash depot in eMalahleni by a gang that included on-duty police officers.

Cele, as head of the police, was held accountable for the actions of his subordinates who abused their positions in the SA Police Service (SAPS) to carry out and conceal the heist. The officers have since left the SAPS.

The insurer, Lloyd’s of London, successfully proved its case in the high court in Pretoria, resulting in this substantial payout.

The size of the payout is of concern, as it shows that corrupt police personnel cost citizens again and again. The cost of salaries, of police work undone, of the opportunity costs related to our reputation of a gangster state and, of course, the costs associated with litigation.

This situation emphasises the importance of departments carefully fulfilling their obligations. In 2023, parliament’s select committee received a report that about R350m of taxpayer money would be obtained from the state attorney’s office in 2023/24 for litigation actions involving SAPS. After the eMalahleni debacle that seems unlikely.

Departments of state will always have legal issues to attend to, but citizens have every right to expect a profoundly better performance from the leadership of the police.

Cele has been police minister since 2018. There can be no excuse for incurring such exorbitant costs.