Majority of SA thinks police are corrupt
July 12 2013 at 09:58am
Pretoria - A staggering 83 percent of
South Africans believe the police are corrupt, Transparency International has
revealed.
In its Global Corruption Barometer
2013, released this week, Transparency International said South Africa was
among 36 countries in which the police were seen as the most corrupt
institution.
“About 83 percent of South Africans
believed that police were corrupt. Thirty-six percent admitted to having paid
bribes to police,” the report said.
DA shadow minister of police Dianne
Kohler-Barnard said she was surprised that such a high number of ordinary South
Africans believed that the police were corrupt.
“However, on reflection, I am not
surprised that so many people believe the police are corrupt,” she said on
Thursday.
She said the murder in broad daylight
of people such as taxi driver Mido Macia and activist Andries Tatane by the
police was clearly indicative of the kind of police force South Africa had.
“Police demand bribes each time they
stop a car, and they threaten those who refuse to pay bribes.
“Police steal from houses of victims of
crime when they go to their houses to get statements from the victims.
“This is not surprising as thousands of
police officers have criminal records,” Kohler-Barnard said.
She said only a zero-tolerance approach
towards corruption in the police force could bring sanity to it.
She said that at present corrupt police
were being protected instead of being fired and that some of the police
officers had moved up the ranks using forged certificates.
“There is this issue or tendency of
circulating criminal elements within the police by moving them from one station
to another instead of dismissing them,” she said.
This practice started during the time
when Jackie Selebi was at the helm of the police force, she said.
“We need to sweep out the criminal
elements and start building a proper police force which people can trust.
“This takes courage and determination,”
she said, adding that all was not lost because there were some good police
officers within the force.
According to Transparency
International, an average of 53 percent of people sampled during the survey
globally said they had paid a bribe to police.
The survey was conducted among 114 000
people in 107 countries. It showed corruption was widespread. In South Africa,
1 000 people from urban areas were interviewed.
Crime Line boss Yusuf Abramjee said
members of the public no longer trusted the police.
He said that since the launch of Crime
Line, it had become apparent that people did not trust the police.
“Many tipsters are saying they (police)
work in cahoots with drug dealers and even tip them off before raids,” he said,
adding that some people were suggesting that the operations should be contacted
by police from outside the province (Gauteng).
Abramjee said he had written to the
national police commissioner and the Gauteng commissioner, giving them this
feedback……..
