JOHANNESBURG - The opposition IFP has demanded that KwaZulu-Natal's MEC for community safety urgently present a plan with implementable measures to tackle corruption in law enforcement in the province.
The IFP made the call after a report published by Corruption Watch exposed disturbing levels of graft, bribery, abuse of power, failure to act and dereliction of duty by officials in all ranks of law enforcement including station commanders, sergeants and warrant officers.
"The image and role of law-enforcement officials has been, over the years severely compromised due to corruption and therefore we demand a no-nonsense approach that will swiftly expose and assist to weed out all affected officials in the police service," the IFP said.
"Hundreds of serving police officers are alleged to be hard core criminals and belong to jail."
"Our people’s mistrust of the police, render it even more difficult for the police to perform what should be their primary task, countering crime. This has perpetuated the mob justice cases in the recent years as our people feel betrayed by law-enforcement officers," the party added.
It called for the removal of "greedy, politically influenced, ethically compromised individuals and those police officers who use the profession as a ‘get rich quick’ scheme".