Cops slammed at commission

THE IFP’s Blessed Gwala lambasted the police yesterday, accusing them of incompetence and inefficiency for failing to finalise several murder cases involving the killing of mostly IFP members.

Gwala, the leader of the IFP in KwaZulu-Natal, was testifying before the Moerane Commission on behalf of the party yesterday.

He butted heads with the police representative and lawyer on the commission, Mthokozisi Ngcobo, who said Gwala’s statement was not based on facts.

Ngcobo raised his objection to Gwala’s characterisation, saying not all police were bad.

“Would you agree that not all police officers are bad?” asked Ngcobo, to which Gwala retorted: “I never said the whole bag of potatoes was rotten.”

Gwala is one of many witnesses testifying before the commission who have complained about the police’s investigations and failure to update victims’ families and finalise cases.

“There are trends from the political violence prior to 2011 that remain unchanged. One is the extremely poor record of investigations into murders of IFP leaders and members,” he said.

He added that IFP councillor Mthandeni Majola of Estcourt had been shot and was left wheelchair-bound, but no one had been brought to book.

Gwala maintained that the failure to secure convictions and to stop the killings showed that the police’s intelligence was poor.

The commission continues.