Police suspensions cost millions of rands
July 27 2012 at 07:42am
By Deon de Lange
By Deon de Lange
A total of 150 police officers – three of them generals – are on suspension, awaiting the outcome of internal disciplinary proceedings for alleged crimes ranging from rape, corruption and theft to robbery, kidnapping and murder.
Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa has given these figures in response to a written parliamentary question from DA spokeswoman on police Dianne Kohler Barnard.
In terms of the Disciplinary Code and Procedure for the public service, “prompt investigations must be conducted”.
Also, disciplinary hearings must be held within 60 days from the date of suspension.
But Mthethwa’s figures show that officers suspended on full pay spend on average 258 days at home.
For those officers suspended without pay, the average period on suspension drops dramatically to 57 days. This lends credence to repeated claims by government departments that suspended employees are often to blame for delays in finalising disciplinary cases.
About R8 million was paid in salaries to suspended police officers last year.
The most recent Public Service Commission investigation into suspensions, carried out in 2009/10, shows that taxpayers paid at least R45m in salaries for suspended officials across the public service that year.
But the report warned the figure “could potentially be much higher” as many departments had not or could not provide the information.
Kohler Barnard has questioned the latest figure for police suspensions, saying it reflects a “massive decline” from 869 last year and 771 in 2009/10.
The figure of 150 “should be seen as a good sign”, but the decrease from previous years was “highly suspicious”, she said.
Police Ministry spokesman Zweli Mnisi noted that the figure was for only the first four months of this financial year.
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