Police lay complaint with Press Ombudsman regarding Sunday Independent article

19 August 2015

On 16 August 2015, The Sunday Independent published an article in which it stated that the South African Police Service management lied in its submission to the Portfolio Committee on Wednesday, 12 August 2015. The management of the police was invited to a meeting of the Portfolio Committee on 12 August 2015 to answer questions regarding the contents of a media statement, dated 1 August 2015, issued by the SAPS Board of Commissioners (BOC).

According to the Sunday Independent, SAPS Head of Communication, Lieutenant General Solomon Makgale “… told Parliament the statement was compiled at a Board of Commissioners, which was held at Magoebaskloof, Limpopo on July 15 and 16. But contrary to Makgale’s claims, The Sunday Independent can today reveal the articles Makgale was referring to were published only on July 26 in both this newspaper and the Sunday Times”. This assertion by Sunday Independent is totally inaccurate. The SAPS challenges the newspaper to corroborate their claims with facts. SAPS management did not say to the Portfolio Committee that the statement was written in Limpopo; it was stated that the decision for a statement to be issued was made in Limpopo.

A simple Google search about low morale, Crime Intelligence and the Detectives being dysfunctional; ineffective leadership; the National Commissioner fighting with her management team and dishonest statements having been made to the Marikana Commission, would have proven to the Sunday Independent that the articles of 26 July 2015 were not substantively new. Articles by Johan Burger and Gareth Newham of the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) on 23 April 2015 and 5 July 2015 titled ‘Riah Phiyega: Wrecking police morale since 2012’ and ‘Fixing SAPS can't end with Phiyega’ respectively, provides a summarised version of most of these issues.

The question which will remain unanswered by the sources who feed the media with information is this: How is it possible that a so-called dysfunctional department, with an ineffective leadership team that is at war with one another, is able to achieve an 80 percent rating against their set targets? The SAPS will therefore approach the Press Ombudsman to lay a complaint.

In conclusion, perhaps it is important that we reiterate that the statement issued by the Board of Commissioners on 1 August 2015 is a true reflection of discussions and sentiments, and is not an attempt to influence any processes initiated by the President. Perhaps to many in the media who have been fed falsehoods by faceless sources, the statement represents an inconvenient truth.

Statement issued by Lieutenant General Solomon Makgale, SAPS, August 19 2015