Johannesburg - The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) on Thursday reacted to the appointment of General Khehla John Sitole as the new national police commissioner.
Sitole's appointment was announced on Wednesday by the Presidency and was with immediate effect.
He previously held the position of Divisional Commissioner for protection and security services.
Popcru in a statement said it noted Khehla's appointed by Zuma.
"[However], over the years, we have witnessed a lot of inconsistencies that have taken place on the very position of national police commissioner, considering the many changes that have taken place therein since our democratic breakthrough.
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"This has had a negative impact on policing in our country and has surely delayed the much needed progress that could have otherwise been attained in our common goal of fighting crime and building sustainable relations with our communities."
Popcru went on to spell issues hampering the force, including the fact that there are no approved national and provincial structures, and the South African Police Service (SAPS) is operating in silos.
The police union added that SAPS needed to urgently review its entire organisational structure as it was currently bloated, and with a lot of duplicated positions.
"This state of affairs has continuously resulted in having many bosses with conflicting mandates and directives that have been a source of confusion and poor performance across the service.
"We would like to see police stations being capacitated and managerial positions being reduced.
"It can only be at such time when the newly appointed national police commissioner spells out his vision for the service that a determination can be made as to whether he would be the right person for taking the police forward or otherwise."