SAPS ‘purges’ are a welcome cleansing of the police service

06 November 2015

The DA welcomes reports of a SAPS senior management reshuffle that has been initiated by acting National Police Commissioner, Kgomotso Phahlane, but cautions that this must not be undertaken simply as a purge of those perceived to be close to suspended Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega.

This reshuffle must proceed only on the basis of objective performance assessments and with the sole intention of improving the effectiveness of the police brass so that they in turn can better lead the police service to be more effective in the fight against crime.

The DA has long maintained that incompetent senior management with the wrong priorities and who are soft on enforcing accountability throughout the ranks is the root cause of the chronic underperformance of the SAPS.

The shakeup by Phahlane is an opportunity for the first steps to be taken to fix that foundational problem once and for all. In making these moves, he must be certain not to repeat history and should avoid the mistakes that Phiyega made in this vein.

The Ministerial Reference Group (MRG) appointed by Police Minister Nathi Nhleko in October last year made negative findings in its report against Phiyega for several appointments, demotions and transfers that she made at senior level shortly after she was appointed. These were deemed to have been irrational, some to the extent that they amounted to wasteful and fruitless expenditure because senior officers were paid high salaries while sitting at home or effectively having no defined and meaningful function to fulfil.

When he was appointed, it was the DA’s expressed hope that Phahlane would focus on getting the SAPS to get the basics right as caretaker Commissioner and build a strong foundation for an improved police service in the future. Half the job of building that foundation is getting the basics of systems management right in the police and human resource management is the system to be fixed. 

Acting Commissioner Phahlane must act throughout this shakeup process with integrity and objectivity, with only one goal in mind: a better-managed and more professional and effective police service for the benefit and safety of all South Africans.      

Statement issued by Zakhele Mbhele MP, DA Shadow Minister of Police, 6 December 2015