SAPS to explain its failure to enforce domestic abuse act

TOP POLICE brass – including its chief General Riah Phiyega – face tough questions in Parliament tomorrow over the startling figures regarding the SAPS’s failure to act against men who abuse their partners.

In the report, the Women’s Legal Centre and the Legal Resources Centre painted a gloomy picture of this shortcoming for which more and more police officers face disciplinary hearings.

The two groups told Parliament’s portfolio committee on police that the rate of failure by the police to implement the Domestic Violence Act was a serious problem.

They called for more action against officers who failed to enforce the law, saying many women were left exposed to more abuse and even death.

The rights groups warned that some police officers had killed their partners and colleagues. They cited the case of Alexandra police officer Constable Ronnie Masie who gunned down a colleague, his neighbour, his girlfriend and the girlfriend’s uncle at the police station in June.

He had a history of domestic violence and was reported to be a ticking time bomb.

The women’s groups said this example was just one of many where officers had failed to enforce the Domestic Violence Act.

Tomorrow, MPs are due to grill SAPS heads about the more than 300 cases in which officers failed to enforce the law. The police report states that between October 2013 and March last year, there were 318 complaints against the police in the matter.

In those cases, the report said, there was remedial action in only 167 cases but the incidents were not serious. In 40 cases, officers were given a verbal warning and in 17 a written warning.

The SAPS was investigat- ing 92 cases against its members while two officers were found not guilty.

The report says none of the investigated officers was dismissed.

Disciplinary action also took place between April and September last year against officers in almost 200 cases.

Of those, only one officer had been found guilty, while 141 were being investigated and five given a written warning.

The report states that remedial action was taken in 37 cases but those weren’t regarded as serious. In addition, 12 officers were given a verbal warning.

Between October last year and March this year, disciplinary action was taken against 91 police officers for allegedly failing to implement the Domestic Violence Act.

However, none of the officers was found guilty and one was acquitted.

The others were either issued with a verbal or written warning.

In the report, the SAPS said effective measures were taken to address the situation.

More than 300 cases in which officers failed