Following the President’s SONA 2022 address last week, it seems there is a lot of uneasiness within the top ranks of the South African Police Services (SAPS). This should come as no surprise, as Cele and Sitole have both completely failed in their mandates during their time in office.
“Sitole and Cele should be sacked together. South Africans deserve a SAPS that is above suspicion and that serves and protects. Both Sitole and Cele have previously been implicated in corruption scandals and should never have been, or ever be allowed, to hold a position in public office,” states Ian Cameron, spokesperson for Action Society.
The list of failures and scandals surrounding Cele and Sitole, in the past two years is astounding: corruption allegations, criminal charges for interfering in an IPID murder investigation, the failure to deal with the July 2021 unrest, the shutdown of the Property Exhibit and Control Management (PCEM) system that led to the DNA backlog and the simultaneous shutdown of the Firearm Permit System (FPS) which manages police owned firearms, to name but a few.
Cameron continues: “It seems that the ANC influence on the SAPS has finally brought the broken law enforcement institution to its knees as political infighting has destroyed the little integrity that might have been left. There seems to be a deeper conflict within the SAPS leadership and we cannot help but wonder whether it has more to do with ANC factional battles and competing corrupt activities.”
Action Society has been actively advocating for the dismissal of both Cele and Sitole. The organisation still holds its position that an external panel of policing experts should be appointed to restructure the entire police management according to merit and not political affiliation.
“Rumour has it that Ramaphosa is considering David Mahlobo or Fikile Mbalula as possible future leaders in SAPS. This would be a further disaster. If more ANC cadres are deployed within the security agencies in the country, further bloodshed is guaranteed.”
