Staff Writer

Speaking to Radio Islam International, Mary De Haas, a seasoned violence monitor, who recently penned an opinion piece on the topic, expressed concern over the politicisation of security, saying, “there’s a long history of politicization of policing and this is the culmination of it.”

She argued that initially, post-1994, there was an attempt to de-politicise the police, who had played a critical role in maintaining and upholding the apartheid system. This, however, has since changed with Police Minister Bheki Cele, who was previously police commissioner. According to De Haas, there is now no separation of powers between the police and the politicians. Of real concern is the fact that the minister is interfering in operational matters, which were supposed to be left to National Police Commissioner, Khehla Sitole, who is being threatened with suspension. Significantly, the minister is heading a task force established to investigate political violence, not Sitole, and/or a detective, which would be procedural.

De Haas said, “The minister is heading a task team [looking] into political killings, and the person who heads that task team is not even the detective… The person who heads the task team should be reporting to the commissioner… He’s not doing that he’s reporting to the minister.” This is extremely problematic, especially since the killings mostly involve the minister’s party, which De Haas argues inhibits both trust and operations. This is contrary to the Police Act, which delineates clear lines of control, which the parliamentary oversite committee on police acknowledges, but has not adopted steps to counter.

De Haas alluded to the fact that the problem started in the previous Zuma administration, where politicians were often promoted to generals in the service, and sergeants were promoted high in rank, in an attempt to secure loyalty to politicians. The result was that the service became bloated and top heavy, with only few officers able and willing to do the real work of investigations. Sitole has since started altering this process, and this may be some one of the reasons influencing his threatened suspension.

These measures are of concern, especially in light of the July looting in the country. Investigations, however, may prove difficult since many of the alleged master minds are from the ruling party.