The problem lies
at the top. If leaders are useless, incompetent, corrupt or lazy, the “troops”
will inevitably follow their moral degeneration. As i
blame Colonel Michael Nolans for the tardy Knysna SAPS, so i blame the
Minister of Police, Nathi Mthethwa, for not ensuring that his “soldiers” are up
to standard. Considering attitudes such as the Marikana Massacre, there’s
little hope that attention will be shone on our little town.
However, i hope that,
eventually, Dianne Kohler Barnard, the DA’s Shadow Minister of Police
will look our way. On the Knysna Keep, i’ve
been extremely critical of the the mockery that is the DA but i will always
give credit where it’s due. Dianne seems to be the only one doing her job.
Thankfully for us, hers is one of the most important i.e. keeping an eye on our
police that needs policing. Here’s her latest post wherein she says that the
police minister is either holding back information or his dept is not keeping
proper records:
The Minister of Police is
being vague and selective in terms of which parliamentary questions he decides
to answer. Whilst we are pleased he has finally begun responding timeously, the
quality of replies has been questionable.
This week, I received four
replies to parliamentary questions which I had submitted recently. The first
two were sufficiently detailed, the other two however were either deliberately
withholding information or the Minister’s department is failing to keep
records.
I asked the Minister of
Police how many SAPS members had undergone fitness assessments and whether any
had failed. The reply did not even correspond to the question.
The second question posed
to the Minister was the number of occult-related crimes which have occurred in
the last financial year following reports in the Daily Sun that the Occult-Related
Crime Unit was to be re-established. We were told the information is not
readily available.
This has been a growing
trend over the last few months. Previously, replies were given with great
detail and we were never told that this would involve ‘considerable man hours’.
In one instance, a question
which we submitted on whether there was sufficient equipment for SAPS members
was rebutted with a response that publishing of this information “might pose a
risk/threat on policing and SAPS members”. The same question posed to the
Gauteng Provincial legislature resulted in a list of all of the equipment
available to the SAPS in Gauteng. Clearly no threat is posed there.
In our opinion,
the number of SAPS members who have been charged with rape, murder, assault and
theft over a certain period of time should be readily available. It is the responsibility of IPID to monitor this situation. Is this
information not computerised? Or is the Minister too embarrassed to divulge
details on this?
If the SAPS was keeping
accurate electronic records, the information required by parliament to perform
its oversight role would be readily available. Without information, we can’t
determine gaps in policies and procedures.
I will be writing to the
acting Chair of the Portfolio Committee on Police to highlight our concerns at
the standard of the responses we have been receiving of late and to ask that
the Minister come to the committee to provide us with the information he does
not seem willing to provide in written questions.
Statement issued by Dianne
Kohler Barnard MP, DA Shadow Minister of Police, November 8 2012
