The High Court in Durban again found in favour of Major-General Johan Booysen, the head of the Hawks in KwaZulu-Natal.
For some hours afterwards on Wednesday, there was hope that the police bosses involved in this protracted battle could fully focus once more on the war against crime.
For the real winners in this extended dispute have been the criminals. With crime as rampant as it is, neither the province nor the country can afford what must be a distraction for the key police commanders involved.
Booysen has had repeated victories, his defences have held up. But recurrent skirmishes over suspensions and disproved claims of wrongdoing would surely have taken their toll. They would have preoccupied him, too – along with years of sidelining on suspensions.
Wednesday’s conclusion was the seventh High or Labour Court dispute in the series. Within hours, however, the Hawks announced they would appeal the latest judgment. So it drags on.
Argument emerged in the most recent court scrap that Booysen was responsible for reputational damage to the police. The truth is that the ongoing wrangle looks like a feud. It is this that is doing the police – and KZN – most harm.
Apart from the dim view of unending discord among police bosses, and a suspected agenda against Booysen, there is the impact it must have on the police on the ground, fighting an increasingly vicious enemy.
Then there is the cost. Government litigation bills are mounting, the police department prominent in these costs. This contest is adding millions.
It is time to end these diversions, for police bosses to attend completely to their main purpose.
But there is the Hawks’ appeal bid, and an internal probe into a Booysen adversary. Then there is a R10.5 million damages suit that Booysen has launched, and a disciplinary hearing for him over the charge that the High Court has just thrown out.
We need to move on. Police commanders should turn their glares outward.