Cape Town - A Lieutenant-Colonel attached to SAPS Crime Intelligence is being investigated for “defeating the ends of justice”. At the same time, a
Lieutenant-General working in the SAPS department of financial management and administration resigned when confronted with corruption charges.
These are just two of the 360 members charged with fraud and corruption, and listed in the SAPS Annual Report for 2018/2019, which was presented to the National Assembly’s Portfolio Committee on Police, chaired by Tina Joemat-Pettersson.
The three worst provinces in terms of SAPS members charged with misconduct were Gauteng with 86 officers, Eastern Cape with 58, and Mpumalanga with 51. The Western Cape came fifth with 37, while the Northern Cape had two.
Of the 37 cases in the province, 20 officers were charged with “aiding an escapee”. However, of these, two officers only were dismissed, while five were found not guilty, six had their charges withdrawn at the hearing, four received written warnings, two received final written warnings and one received a month suspension without salary.
National Police Commissioner General Khehla John Sitole, who led the SAPs delegation, told the Portfolio Committee that the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation “regards fraud and corruption as very serious offences”.
He said “the trial-ready case docket rate for fraud and corruption by individuals within the Justice Crime Prevention and Security cluster increased from 74.21% in 2017/2018 to 82.37% against a planned target of 60%.
Meanwhile, Sitole said attacks and killings of police officers would be regarded “as a threat to the stability of the country”.
He said that since 2014/2015, 409 officers had been murdered.
Meanwhile, Joemat-Pettersson urged SAPS to consider releasing quarterly crime stats instead of the annual format.
@MwangiGithahu