General chaos
WANTS POLICE TO ACT TOUGH AS 10 GENERALS ARE BEING INVESTIGATED FOR CRIME
Officers who are found guilty will be flushed out of the service, vows commissioner.
The national police commissioner and his political head talked tough on crime yesterday, while admitting that they also faced some serious questions within their own ranks, as several senior members of the South African Police Service (Saps) are under investigation for crimes.
National police commissioner General Khehla Sitole said their main focus in fighting serious crimes, such as cash-in-transit robberies, hijackings, house robberies and taxi and gang violence, is to disarm the criminals and respond to scenes in record time.
But, Sitole said, no police officer is above the law and all officers who are guilty of any crime will be flushed out of the service.
The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) are making headway in their investigations into 10 police generals who are accused of corruption amounting to billions of rands.
Sitole said the Saps are also initiating their own investigations and suspended two lieutenant-generals in recent weeks.
It also recently came to light that at least 27 members of the police’s crime intelligence service were facing charges ranging from traffic violations, to serious criminal offences.
Police Minister Bheki Cele said the days of police officials sitting behind desks have come to an end, as they will now be deployed to identified crime hot spots countrywide. Their focus will be on combating serious crimes such as cash-in-transit heists, car hijacking, murders, house robberies, and gang violence.
As part of the reaction plan, a plane for Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) plus another plane, all police helicopters, and 122 high-powered vehicles will be on standby for operations.
“We have also beefed up 10111 with new technology to be quick in receiving the messages and to respond,” Sitole said.
On ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule’s recent claim that KwaZulu-Natal’s spate of political killings are merely the result of criminality, Cele said the report on the killings is not satisfactory at all. “There is a long list of dead people and a short list – if it exists – of culprits who have been arrested and put in prison.”
He said no more than four people have been put behind bars for more than 40 people who have been killed to date. “It is not just political killings, it is crime related.” –