DA welcomes removal of criminal cops, must include top structures

The DA welcomes reports that the National Police Commissioner, Riah Phiyega, will be dealing with criminality within the ranks of the South African Police Service (SAPS) following a criminality audit. The DA calls on SAPS management to take swift and decisive action against criminals within the service, including those within its higher echelons.

The DA will be submitting parliamentary questions to determine when the audit will be finalised and what steps will be taken in future to prevent criminals infiltrating the police service. We will also request that the results of the audit be tabled in Parliament for scrutiny and debate.

According to media reports yesterday, Commissioner Phiyega circulated a letter to top SAPS management in which she ordered a "purge" of convicted criminals from the SAPS. Although this audit is yet to be finalised, the National Commissioner admitted that the SAPS is "populated with murderers, rapists, fraudsters and other offenders" and that there are SAPS members behind bars who are still drawing monthly salaries. In the letter the National Commissioner refers to the findings of the audit as revealing "an unpleasant picture".

We have been highlighting this fact as successive National Police Commissioners have come and been dismissed. It has taken far too long for SAPS management and the Minister of Police to take action.

All members of the SAPS, including those within its leadership, should be professional police officers who protect South Africans from criminals, they should not be criminals themselves. We trust that the National Police Commissioner will take swift action in dealing with any criminality within the service.

Statement issued by Dianne Kohler Barnard MP, DA Shadow Minister of Police, July 1 2013

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