A total of 150 police officers – three of them generals – are on suspension, awaiting the outcome of internal disciplinary proceedings for alleged crimes ranging from rape, corruption and theft to robbery, kidnapping and murder.
Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa has given these figures in response to a written parliamentary question from DA spokeswoman on police Dianne Kohler Barnard.
In terms of the Disciplinary Code and Procedure for the public service, “prompt investigations must be conducted”.
Also, disciplinary hearings must be held within 60 days from the date of suspension.
But Mthethwa’s figures show that officers suspended on full pay spend on average 258 days at home.
For those officers suspended without pay, the average period on suspension drops dramatically to 57 days. This lends credence to repeated claims by government departments that suspended employees are often to blame for delays in finalising disciplinary cases.
About R8 million was paid in salaries to suspended police officers last year.
The most recent Public Service Commission investigation into suspensions, carried out in 2009/10, shows that taxpayers paid at least R45m in salaries for suspended officials across the public service that year.
But the report warned the figure “could potentially be much higher” as many departments had not or could not provide the information.
Kohler Barnard has questioned the latest figure for police suspensions, saying it reflects a “massive decline” from 869 last year and 771 in 2009/10.
The figure of 150 “should be seen as a good sign”, but the decrease from previous years was “highly suspicious”, she said.
Police Ministry spokesman Zweli Mnisi noted that the figure was for only the first four months of this financial year.
Kohler Barnard said there appeared to be a “parallel legal system” in the police in which officers got off lightly for serious offences. She cited the case of three police officers in the Northern Cape who were fined R500 each after being caught illegally altering a last will and testament using the thumbprint of a civilian who had died.
“You or I would be in jail for such a crime. But, it seems, criminality is just not taken seriously within the police service,” she said.
This comes just days after the Independent Police Investigative Directorate revealed that, contrary to the law, many alleged offences by SAPS members were not reported to the directorate.
A recent preliminary probe by the directorate found there had been at least 49 such cases this year. These involved alleged offences ranging from torture and assault (28), discharging of an official firearm (seven) and deaths in police custody (six) to deaths rising from police action (five).
“The minister needs to ensure that SAPS members suspected of criminal offences are reported timeously and that their disciplinary hearings are dealt with speedily,” Kohler Barnard said.
“We also need assurances that those who commit crime are dismissed immediately. We cannot have criminals acting as crime fighters.”
The list of suspended officers includes police crime intelligence boss Richard Mdluli and the unit’s head of covert support, Major-General Solly Lazarus.
The two generals were suspended in May after being accused of plundering the police’s crime intelligence slush fund to buy houses and cars and pay for holidays.
They are also alleged to have appointed family members as police intelligence agents – with ranks as high as colonel – despite their not having had any experience and their apparently providing little or no crime intelligence information.
The two are being investigated as part of a special internal probe ordered by then acting national commissioner General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.
Lieutenant-General Gary Kruser, former head of the police’s supply chain management function, was suspended in December after allegedly entering into a contract for the construction of 30 rural police stations without the necessary financial authority. It is not known if he has been reinstated.
The ministerial reply refers to a fourth suspended general, but Mnisi said then national commissioner Bheki Cele had been on suspension when the figures were compiled.
Cele has since been sacked following a board of inquiry’s finding that he was unfit for office. He is challenging the finding in court.
The crimes of which these policemen and women are accused include sexual assault, malicious damage to property, attempted murder, assault, dealing in illegal substances and possession of stolen goods.
Political Bureau