Cape Town - 090127 - At Khayelitsha's Nonceba Hall on National Police Day there was a meeting to help organize how local organizations could assist the police in dealing with community issues. Photo by Skyler Reid. Cape Town - 090127 - At Khayelitsha's Nonceba Hall on National Police Day there was a meeting to help organize how local organizations could assist the police in dealing with community issues. Photo by Skyler Reid.
Cape Town - Parliament’s police portfolio committee is demanding answers from the SAPS after it emerged on Wednesday that only 300 police officers had been charged for the loss of 1 165 firearms in the past financial year.
Less than one percent of officers who have lost more than 13 500 firearms in the past five years have been disciplined or told to pay.
Committee members voiced serious concern during hearings on the administrative programme of the service’s annual report, saying the SAPS leadership had pledged to fire cops who lost their guns.
“Nobody is being held accountable. Firearms are hugely expensive. I can understand if a police officer has a gun held to their head, they would not be held responsible. But there have been suspicions voiced that SAPS members are selling them to supplement their income,” DA police spokeswoman Dianne Kohler Barnard said.
Brigadier-General Kaine Monyepao of the SAPS human resources department refuted allegations that nothing was being done to discipline the members.
“Both the minister and the national commissioner are on record for taking a very firm position against the loss of firearms… A lot of interventions have been made in which people were made to account,” he said.
Monyepao said it was important to take into account the fact that there were 17 categories of lost firearms.
“It would not be right to say that all employees who lose their firearm will be dismissed. It is very important for the department… to look at the mitigating factors relating to the loss.”
Monyepao said some cases were still under investigation.
Police commissioner Riah Phiyega stressed the importance of categorisation.
“A SAPS member was killed in Marikana and a gun was taken away from him… The members who were shot in Hout Bay had their guns taken away. I would not like the public… to think all the guns lost were as a result of recklessness. We are dealing with this. Let us give the facts so that you can judge us on facts and not on sentiment.”
Chairwoman Annelize van Wyk said the committee needed to be clear on how seriously management was taking the issue and asked for a clear indication of how many officers had been disciplined.
She said the administrative programme of SAPS was the programme that was “really underperforming”.
POLITICAL BUREAU