Cyril’s police headache: what to do with the brass

Police boss Khehla Sitole’s whingeing in parliament that police were all but powerless to stop the looting and unrest because they were “handicapped” by not being allowed in law to shoot the looters is a shocking indictment of the state of our police force. With the advances made in technology and policing methods in recent years — not to mention our own constitution — it’s incredible that there should be nostalgia for jackboot tactics. Sitole and police minister Bheki Cele were in parliament to answer questions about the recent unrest, and the lack of an appropriate police response. But instead of this being an exercise in accountability and oversight, it seemed the police brass and minister spent most of the time giving excuses for the unacceptable inertia the country witnessed.

Of course budgets are being cut in the government’s efforts to right our finances, and of course resources are slim. This is a reality not only in SA but around the world.

Perhaps the gentlemen in question are not best placed to give a true assessment of the state of our security services, but there are pressing issues to be dealt with, and they fall squarely in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s lap.

If the breakdown in the police is to be addressed, Ramaphosa will have to summon the courage to ring some big changes. Thorough police reform may entail bringing in a new minister who can offer the portfolio a broader vision of policing in democratic SA.

It may also entail replacing Sitole, whose apparent partisanship in ANC factional battles has been highlighted by a new Supreme Court of Appeal ruling on the “grabber’’ that police procured before the 2017 Nasrec conference, apparently to assist in spying on rivals to former president Jacob Zuma.

The crowding of top police ranks, with 200 generals and 600 brigadiers earning R1bn a year, means annual intakes of new cops have been axed for three years. Disciplinary procedures have collapsed, and crime intelligence appears nonexistent. Trust is low.

The looting and unrest have spooked ordinary South Africans, and unleashed a wave of vigilantism and self-arming. Security is key to the future of the democratic state and it is the state’s basic duty to ensure order. Ramaphosa must surely know this — and act.