By Anel Lewis
The City of Cape Town's metro police is one of the least stable municipal police departments in South Africa, says the Institute of Security Studies (ISS).
Andrew Faull said a research study of Cape Town's metro police between 2007 and 2008, "indicated a department struggling to find its feet".
The city's executive director of safety and security Richard Bosman said that while some of the concerns were true, others were outdated.
Metro police in the Helderberg were accused of corruption during the research period. Plans to include the traffic police in the unit were halted due to mismanagement concerns and, most recently, former metro police chief Bongani Jonas was accused of fraud and corruption.
Although Jonas was cleared of the charges that he had his military licence converted to a civilian one illegally, he was suspended by the city council and later offered a severance package to leave his post.
Despite reports that traffic officials believed Jonas was guilty of corruption and nepotism while heading the traffic and licensing department, Jonas was appointed head of metro police. He kept this post until his suspension last year.
Bosman said: "The metro police has stabilised and has found its feet."
Bosman said a lot of the study's content had since been resolved, including suggestions to monitor staff and take complaints from the public of fraud by metro police. He said the study contained "inaccuracies and litigious statements".
Bosman declined further comment on the study.
Faull said in his report that Cape Town was unique in that it was the only metropolitan police department (MPD) where the initial staff intake did not come from the traffic department. The city's metro police was set up in 2001, with the traffic department remaining separate.
There were plans to amalgamate the two departments. However, Faull said this plan was scrapped in 2007 when the city decided that traffic control should remain separate from crime prevention and the policing of by-laws.
In 2006, metro police officers were accused of using council vehicles for the private sales of meat in the Helderberg area.
There were also complaints of irregular leave and neglect of duties. A committee of inquiry recommended then that they needed better training and vehicle control measures.
Faull said the metro police had an internal affairs unit to investigate complaints against officers. But he said the metro police did not have its own disciplinary structures or powers.
When interviewed the then deputy chief of metro police Pinky Mathabathe said low complaint statistics indicated that corruption was not a problem, but she later said there was a problem that metro police did not feel that their actions were illegal.
Between 2005 and 2008 there were 644 complaints against the metro police.
The number of complaints dropped last year to 74 from the 226 reported in 2007 and 290 reported in 2006. Faull said, however, that it was difficult to measure corruption and that the statistics were not an accurate reflection of possible corruption taking place.
He said MPDs needed to increase their capacity to fight corruption with tracking technology and a zero-tolerance even for small misdemeanours.
Performance monitoring systems would also encourage more honest policing.
Safety and security mayoral committee member JP Smith said the report should not be seen as negative, as the city fared better than the other municipalities studied.