As pressure mounts on the leadership of the South African Police Service (SAPS) and President Cyril Ramaphosa to show bold leadership and act against those implicated by KwaZulu-Natal provincial police commissioner Lt. General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, ActionSA has added its voice.
On Thursday, the Herman Mashaba-led party marched to the police provincial headquarters in Durban and delivered a memorandum for the national police commissioner, Lt General Fannie Masemola.
Revelations unprecedented
In the memorandum, the party said the revelations by Mkhwanazi are unprecedented and pleaded with him to stand up and be counted.
Among the things the party wants Masemola to do is to immediately suspend all the senior police officers who were implicated by Mkhwanazi.
The party said this would help clean up the SAPS and restore public confidence.
The march was led by Zwakele Mncwango, the party’s provincial chairperson, and Dareleen James, the party’s MP who is serving on the police portfolio committee in parliament.
“Accordingly, we demand the following urgent interventions: We demand the immediate suspension of all SAPS named or implicated in criminal activity or deliberate obstruction of justice. Pending full and independent investigations.
Criminal infiltration in the SAPS
“We call for the urgent investigation into criminal infiltration within SAPS, including the conduct of the Minister of Police (Senzo Mchunu), senior generals, and Crime Intelligence leadership,” reads the memorandum for Masemola from ActionSA.
Furthermore, the party told Masemola that he must immediately implement a protection plan to shield all whistleblowers who blew the whistle on corruption within the SAPS.
The party also pushed Masemola to appoint a permanent head of crime intelligence. They want the person to fill the vacuum in the unit and restore its stability. This follows the suspension of Lt General Dumisani Khumalo on charges of alleged wrongdoing.
Moreover, to root out corruption, ActionSA wants Masemola to conduct a full audit of all SAPS leadership structures. Also on procurement practices and strategic appointments. So that the police service roots out all compromised figures and starts rebuilding internal capacity.
