By Simon Nare
The SA Police Service has confirmed that it is reviewing its Inspectorate Analysis Centre and Service Complaints in line with the law that empowers the SAPS to arrange and rearrange the organisation.
SAPS national spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe told Inside Politics that National Commissioner Lieutenant-General Fannie Masemola, as empowered by law, was consulting stakeholders on the issue.
“He is busy with reviewing the structure to support the organisations policing strategy. The organisation is currently busy with consultations with internal stakeholders as well. We can, therefore, not comment until consultations are concluded and the structure is approved,” said Mathe.
The DA has raised alarm that the SAPS intended to shut down the structure, a move the party said was ill-advised given that the structure played a critical role in upholding public trust and accountability within SAPS.
DA MP Lisa Schickerling in a statement said as an internal SAPS mechanism, it served to hold police officers and management to account for their actions while in uniform.
“It is a pivotal component in SAPS’ drive to foster public trust and confidence, maintain oversight and transparency into inefficiencies and misconduct, and ensure adequate resourcing of SAPS stations. Its disciplinary functions are aimed at combatting internal misconduct and recommending remedial action,” said Schickerling.
She added that the inspectorate served to identify deficiencies at police stations and implement measures to enhance the quality of service to communities.
Further, it ensured that SAPS strategies and policies remained laser focused on crime prevention and community safety, serving as a key player in data collection and policing policy development.
The chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Police in the National Assembly, Ian Cameron, also raised concern, saying there was no logical explanation or rationale for such a decision “in a country suffering the sheer weight of underperformance at station level”.
Cameron, who is also a DA MP in the Government of National Unity, said he write a letter to Police Minister Senzo Mchunu and Masemola to understand the rationale behind the intention and to map a desirable way forward.
He argued that shutting down the structure would weaken accountability and further compromise the already poor accountability framework within the SAPS.
“To an institution that has a serious trust deficit, its closure will further erode the low faith that the people have in the police. Its closure will inevitably diminish the possibilities within SAPS to reduce the inflow of complaints against the police,” he said.
Schickerling called on Cameron to immediately summon Mchunu and Masemola to appear before the committee to explain themselves on what she described as drastic and inexplicable move.
“The Portfolio Committee on Police has not been informed of SAPS’ intention to shut this crucial organ. It is unthinkable that such a fateful decision would be made without informing or consulting members of Parliament tasked with overseeing the entity,” she said.
INSIDE POLITICS
