Daily Dispatch
Policing hardly a joking matter
POLICE Minister Fikile Mbalula has occupied centre stage in the most astonishing way in recent months – none of it inspiring of public confidence.
The recent adventures of our foulmouthed minister include having police officers hold several “criminal suspects” hogtied at the roadside for three hours so that he could arrive for a photo opportunity.
This was accompanied by Mbalula’s usual stream of tweets, including “we will arrest those tsotsis until they s*** themselves”.
Except, the police had it all wrong – the 10 people they arrested in the Western Cape were in fact, taking the body of a man from the Eastern Cape home for his funeral.
Each will surely get a chunk of change for the humiliation they suffered as Mbalula pranced around their prostrated bodies in the dust.
This is aside from R5-billion that had to be set aside after some of the 16 000 civil claims were reportedly instituted against him in the past financial year. That money should’ve been used to improve policing.
But Mbalula, instead of insisting in professional policing, has repeatedly urged police to greater heights of illegality.
“Crush their balls”, “run them down”, “make them pee and drink their own urine”, he told a task-force at a recent crime crackdown parade. “Progressively break the law and let me worry about the courts.”
Outrageously foolish words, given that statistics suggest that police regularly break the law doing their jobs.
Deaths in police custody or as a result of police action are up significantly according to statistics from the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid).
Claims of police torture have also risen. The Ipid revealed it was swamped with some 7 000 cases involving police members facing serious offences including rape and murder. But our police minister’s comments reveal a perturbing lack of concern.
Meanwhile off to the side, Mbalula has been busy with other things. A few months ago he featured prominently in Grace Mugabe’s grand escape from the SA justice, and more recently reports emerged claiming that during his tenure as sports minister a clothing company and supplier to Sascoc bankrolled his R600 000 family holiday to the increasingly popular destination, Dubai.
Mbalula says this is his business, not ours. Nevertheless, he has denied the claims.
On the issue of Dubai, the police response to #Guptaleaks has been underwhelming to say the least. While Mbalula has declared “war on criminals”, months of deafening silence followed the release of hundreds of thousands of e-mails providing powerful evidence of widespread criminal activity.
When no official police investigation had still not been announced by late August, the Hawks were summonsed to parliament to explain themselves.
With his wise-cracking demeanour and constant string of preposterous tweets, Mbalula could be dismissed as a fatuous clown in an expensive suit. The problem is, he isn’t. He’s in a vital position, wields extraordinary power, seems untouchable and synonymous with law and order he is certainly not. Time for him to exit the stage.