Chairperson and hon Minister, the ACDP would like to begin by commending the SAPS for the very successful manner in which they protected the citizens of South Africa and visitors and teams during the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup. We commend you for doing an excellent job.
However, Minister, you have pointed out the issue of corruption and many of the speakers have focused on it too, and I would just like to mention a few issues in this regard.
Former New York City Police Department Commissioner Patrick Murphy said:
The rotten apple theory won't work any longer. Corrupt police officials are not natural-born criminals, nor morally wicked men, constitutionally different from their honest colleagues. The task of corruption control is to examine the barrel, not just the apples - the organisation, not just the individuals in it - because corrupt police are made, not born.
I wish to commend you, Commissioner, and the Minister, for looking into this issue and relooking at the whole organisation.
We share the view that the level of corruption is extremely disconcerting and, to the credit of the Commissioner, he has investigated and asked the Special Investigating Unit to investigate the significant irregularities relating to 33 police stations. We also see the President has asked the SIU to investigate IT procurement.
However, Minister, can we expect anything less when we have serious questions being asked about the top management level? For instance, there are those relating to the Pretoria and Durban office leases, which we know will be dealt with by Parliament; the possibility of there being senior rogue officers, following the unauthorised visit to the Public Protector; and, of course, the issue of the head of crime intelligence, who is now being investigated for murder.
As the battle for the survival of crime intelligence boss, Lt-Gen Mdluli, gathers storm, it is clear that the spies are once again busily assembling dossiers on each other and on senior politicians. We saw that with the Scorpions. They seem to be tracing intricate networks of corruption, patronage and party-factional agendas. As pointed out in the media, the result is that, "Organised crime and corruption find both their occasion and their excuse in the war of spies, whilst democratic choice is stolen from citizens and handed over to plotters."
Chairperson and Minister, I am sure you will agree that this is a very serious situation and it must be addressed urgently. With crime and violence at unacceptable levels, we cannot afford to have crime intelligence embroiled in bitter factionalism and fighting. We would urge you to intervene urgently in this regard.
To conclude, we and other speakers have highlighted the shortcomings in the SAPS. However, we agree that the vast majority of police officials are not corrupt and are prepared to lay down their lives to protect citizens. The ACDP would like to thank them, and offer condolences to the families of those officers who made the supreme sacrifice last year. I thank you.