Warring top cops cause chaos
May 7 2012 at 11:55am
steve lawrence
Kashiefa Ajam and Sapa
The cabinet has condemned the ongoing public spat between senior police officers including the head of crime intelligence Richard Mdluli.
And ordinary police officers and detectives are so ashamed of their warring top management they are embarrassed to wear their uniforms.
Yesterday Performance Monitoring Minister Collins Chabane said the public spats among police bosses did not enhance government efforts to fight crime in the country.
“(The) cabinet calls on the South African Police (Service) not to be distracted from fighting crime and (to) ensure law and order are maintained in the country.”
Chabane said the cabinet had expressed serious concern about the reported high-level cases of crime and police officers involved in wrongdoing. This, he said, was damaging the confidence and trust people should have in the safety and security of the country.
But Chabane’s words are little comfort to the ordinary police officers on the beat.
Johan Burger, senior researcher with the Institute for Security Studies, described the Mdluli saga as “ridiculous”.
The controversial crime intelligence boss, who is tipped to become SA’s next police commissioner, is embroiled in a long list of allegations including murder, fraud and corruption. Last year Mdluli faced charges relating to alleged misuse of a crime intelligence fund, the purchase of luxury vehicles and the hiring of family members.
He also faced a murder charge for the alleged killing of the boyfriend of a former girlfriend. Both sets of charges have been withdrawn. The murder charge became an inquest.
Burger said he spoke to dozens of officers daily.
“They are embarrassed to put on their uniforms and go out in public. They are ashamed to be associated with the police because of the criminal activity and corruptness of their bosses. The officers have absolutely no confidence in their top structures and this ultimately hampers their own willingness and ability to carry out their daily duties. It is devastating to the built-up trust and confidence in the organisation in which they serve,” Burger said.
Meanwhile the General Council of the Bar of SA has noted with extreme concern the spate of thefts from, and harassment of, advocates.
“There appears to be a pattern. The perpetrators appear not to be ordinary criminals. They stole laptops and information, leaving other valuables untouched,” said general council chairman GC Pretorius.
“They shot at an advocate,” he said, referring to National Prosecuting Authority prosecutor Glynnis Breytenbach, who had threatened to take a decision not to prosecute Mdluli to court for a review if the NPA did not reconsider.
This week she said she was shot at on April 11 on the N14 highway near an off-ramp. And on April 25 she said two BMW motorcycles tried to force her off the road while she was on her way to a Centurion gym.
“Except for one, the advocates were all involved in high profile cases involving the minister of police or police in his department.”
In the other case, said Pretorius, the advocate represented an out-of-favour high profile politician.
“These attacks on advocates strike at the heart of the rule of law,” Pretorius said.
Yesterday Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa dismissed allegations of cover-ups in the probe into Mdluli, saying they were unfounded and “ought to be dismissed out of hand”.
He said the Inspector General of Intelligence, Faith Radebe, had the legal mandate of oversight with regard to the financial management of Crime Intelligence and was looking into allegations that there was abuse of the intelligence secret fund.
Democratic Alliance MP Dianne Kohler Barnard said morale in the SAPS was at an all-time low, while public opinion of the SAPS was back to where it was before 1994.
“Civilians were terrified of the police who they watched on TV daily beating up citizens, while they hear of police who murder, rob, rape, torture and who demand bribes at every turn.”
Kohler Barnard described Mdluli as a “teflon man”. She said he had dodged murder and fraud charges, and an “entire shopping list of criminality” revealed by an SAPS investigation which shows he is looting the SAPS’s secret fund.
“That he is becoming more powerful by the day in the lead-up to the ANC elective congress is stomach-turning.
“The only possible reason that can exist for his simply side-stepping all these charges, is that this is the man who knows where the bodies are buried. There have been claims that there are other High and Mighties who have been dipping into the slush fund, so logically they have no option but to protect this man or face the possibility that they may lose their place at the trough… or worse, join Jackie Selebi (in prison),” said Kohler Barnard.
