South African Crime Quarterly 40
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Over the past few years the South African Police Service (SAPS) has lurched from crisis to crisis. It seems as though each week brings fresh allegations of mismanagement, corruption and political interference in the work of the police. The allegations of poor management practices, weak control and abuse seem particularly prevalent at the highest management levels.
In many ways it is not surprising that we find ourselves in this situation. Both former President Thabo Mbeki and current President Jacob Zuma placed political cronies at the head of the police service; people who may have had strong struggle credentials, but whose personal integrity when in a position of power was found to be wanting. The numerous failings of these two men have had an effect on the SAPS at every level; however, the systemic failures in the SAPS cannot solely be laid at their door. While it is vitally important to ensure that the next National Commissioner is a skilled manager, and a person of integrity, this will not be enough to fix the systemic problems in the SAPS. These are the result of the same factors that undermine service delivery in other government departments: weak management, promotion for reasons other than merit, difficulty in forming a cohesive organisational culture, and more.
In the SAPS these problems, along with dysfunctional training systems that have allowed individuals without the necessary skills and knowledge to take up arms and don a uniform, are particularly concerning, because the police exercise the state’s power over life and death. For this edition of SA Crime Quarterly I interviewed the chairperson of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Police, Sindiswa Chikunga, who speaks about the importance of civilian oversight of the police, and its limits. She also speaks about the problems that arise from promotions improperly made. Shortly before SACQ went to print Ms Chikunga was promoted to the position of Deputy Minister of Transport.
Also shortly before this edition went to print the Portfolio Committee passed the SAPS Amendment Bill (the subject of SACQ 39), which will leave the Hawks in a stronger position to tackle corruption and fend off political interference – but the Hawks remain a directorate of the SAPS with the head appointed at the discretion of the Minister of Police. This may yet prove to be a serious shortcoming. In the interview Ms Chikunga tells us why the Committee were so adamant to keep the Hawks in the SAPS.
Staying with the issue of police oversight, David Bruce describes efforts by the Western Cape to give effect to the constitutional obligation for the province to play a more active role in overseeing the police, a move that drew criticism from the minister who intends to challenge the Western Cape Community Safety Bill.
Also in this edition, Sanja Kutnjak Ivkovic and Adri Sauerman present the findings of their research into the code of silence between police officers in South Africa, which serves to protect corrupt acts from detection.
Moving away from issues of policing, Bill Dixon and David Gadd respond to the article by Juan Nel and Duncan Breem (SACQ 38) that argued that South Africa needed to legislate against hate crimes. Dixon and Gadd present the counter argument, that hate crimes legislation is not always, or necessarily, in the best interests of the victims of crimes of prejudice, or the most effective way to counter such crimes. Finally, Trevor Budhram provides an overview of the extent of credit crime fraud in South Africa.
Chandré Gould (Editor)
