Cape Town - The portfolio committee on police in the National Assembly and police unions have lambasted the structure of the police service, saying it is unsustainable to have a top-heavy structure that impedes operational requirements on the ground.
They said an effective and agile police service required adequate human resources, especially at the police station level to render services to the public.
This comes in the wake of the police’s inability to prevent widespread looting and violence in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng after the jailing of former president Jacob Zuma, which has been blamed on crime intelligence failures.
Last week Parliament grilled police management on stability and restructuring as part of its oversight role. Committee chairperson Tina Joemat-Pettersson said that for policing to be effective, the institution needed to be stable from its senior management level.
Leon Rabie, the police’s head of strategic management, said at least 12 senior managers (level 14 and above) had been dismissed within the police, following departmental investigations, during the period April 1, 2016, to June 30.
Rabie said three lieutenant-generals were dismissed, while one was dishonourably discharged. Six major-generals were dismissed, while two were dishonourably discharged.
He said a restructuring process in consultation with the Safety and Security Bargaining Council (SSSBC) had been initiated to cascade resources to lower organisational levels, in particular the station level.
He said the police had lost 32 662 members through natural attrition from 2016/17 to 2020/21, and had employed 20 959 employees (new recruits and lateral entrants) during this period, resulting in a net loss of 11 703 members.
Joemat-Pettersson said the committee was of the view that the general instability within the police, as a result of various causal factors, was a cause of grave concern.
“Firstly, the committee is concerned about the uncertainty in relation to the vacancy of Divisional Commissioner: Crime Intelligence. It is untenable that following the transfer of the incumbent in December 2020, there has been no movement to fill the post,” she said.
“It is only logical that when you transfer someone from such a critical position, that a replacement is made within a reasonable time. What the recent unrest has shown is the gap in quality intelligence to pre-empt criminal activity.”
The SAPS has been without a permanent head of Crime Intelligence since the axing of Peter Jacobs in March over claims, which he disputes, that he abused funds from the unit for the acquisition of personal protective equipment.
SA Police and Allied Workers Union (Sapawu) Treasurer-General Mphangeli Jingqi said the management should limit the political influence in the police, where those who were closer to the politicians were known to assume higher rank structures.
Jingqi said they should also limit the bureaucracy in the strategic planning process, and should involve individuals who were at the ground level.
Independent Policing Union of SA (Ipusa) president Myrtle du Plessis said that through cadre deployment and political loyalty, the position of the national commissioner had been held by eight people since 2009, which had a hugely detrimental effect on the police’s vision and mission of preventing crime, and ensuring the safety and security of state property and communities.
Du Plessis called for an urgent strategic reform of the police service and all members of the executive to be held accountable for their lapses of duty.
She said members on the ground needed leadership.