DURBAN - CRIME experts have raised concern over the state of the SAPS following three recent incidents involving police officers.
In KwaZulu-Natal, police spokesperson Brigadier Jay Naicker confirmed that a departmental investigation had been registered against a police officer in Newcastle after a video surfaced last week of the officer visibly drunk in uniform.
In a separate incident, a former Mandeni police station commander, Colonel Ziningi Zulu, died by suicide on Friday. Zulu faced two counts of theft of exhibit money amounting to almost R180 000 which had been kept at the station and had been expected to plead guilty.
Last Wednesday in Gauteng, a police officer shot dead his partner, a nursing assistant at Tembisa Hospital, before turning the gun on himself. He remains in critical condition in hospital.
Mary de Haas, KZN violence monitor, said that she had concerns about the management of police.
“The SAPS is in a crisis situation. The problem stems from management and this needs to be addressed with the utmost urgency. Some of the issues that we are having with police management are irregular appointments in the police, which includes nepotism in appointments.
“One of the ways to deal with this is to make the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) really independent.
“We can’t have the police watchdog reporting to the Minister of Police, Ipid needs to be independent.
“We also need President Cyril Ramaphosa to intervene and appoint a commission to address the issues of the police. It needs to be chaired by a retired judge.”
Gareth Newham, head of the Justice and Violence Prevention Programme at the Institute for Security Studies, said there had been a deterioration in the state of the SAPS.
“There are a growing number of police officials who are problematic, might have psychological problems, are involved in corruption, have drug and alcohol abuse problems and they are simply not being properly managed and given the support they need, and if they are involved in corruption they are not being moved.”
Newham added that there was an urgent need to look at institutional reform in the SAPS.
“It’s not helping the many good men and women do the work they need to do, especially as they are being let down by colleagues. Many police officers face difficult circumstances in their lives, they face the worst of humanity. They deal with criminals, deal with victims who have been seriously hurt by criminals, and for some police officers it takes an immense toll on them. They then tend to have high levels of alcohol abuse, alcohol dependency, as a way of coping. There are also high levels of domestic violence because they can’t deal with pressures of everyday life.”
Chad Thomas, an organised and financial crime investigator, said the past week had not been good for the image of the SAPS.
Thomas said that these acts of criminality did not bode well for the image of the SAPS and eroded the credibility and good work being done by the majority of police officers who stick to their oath to uphold the rule of law.
“Decisive action must be taken against rogue elements within SAPS.”
Bethuel Nephtal Nkuna, president of the Independent Policing Union of South Africa, said that police officers are tasked with resolving the issues of other people, but they also have their own problems to deal with.
“A health and wellness (programme) has been established for SAPS members. However, it is not functioning well and is putting SAPS members under tremendous pressure. Part of the wellness includes access to a psychologist, social worker and a chaplain.
“However, there can be over 500 police officers in a cluster.
“How do they all get the necessary help they need when there is only one social worker and psychologist to see all of them?”
Nkuna added that there was also the issue of rank.
“Sometimes the social worker may be the rank of a captain and he would advise a senior such as a brigadier or a general that a certain police officer needs assistance. Sometimes the general or brigadier may not listen to the advice of the social worker because they are of a lower rank.
“There is a need for more assistance to deal with the health and well-being of police members.”
THE MERCURY