When this Minister was the Regional Commissioner of Correctional Services, he advocated for the parole of No 1's financial adviser and benefactor Schabir Shaik. So this is the man who signed off on the release of the never-been-ill-a-day-in-his-life, golf-playing, whisky- swilling, close friend to the President.
It was after that that this Minister was suddenly deemed suitably qualified to be a director-general, and today earns a Minister's salary.
This Minister has inherited an entity which on the books looks effective. But I could take him by the hand to 153 stations without toilets, running water, electricity, or all three; to stations where the rain pours through the roof; or those with few working vehicles, or plenty of vehicles and no driver's licences; to stations where the police members round up cattle and demand a fee from the local subsistence farmers for their release.
I could show him where to source some of the money to renovate a station or two, starting with the man who was the first nonpolice political appointment to National Police Commissioner, Jackie Selebi. We are still feeling the effect of his disastrous term, and what he did to the SAPS and to our reputation abroad is immeasurable. As far as the money is concerned, according to Treasury Regulations 12.7.1 and 2 he should have started paying back the taxpayers the more than R17 million, 30 days after he lost his appeal. Yet it's been three years, and we've not seen a cent.
That R17 million could pay the salaries of over 200 constables for a year. It could pay for more officers on the streets; provide vehicles at stations, bulletproof vests where there are none, or much needed crime- fighting resources to those men and women whom he embarrassed; or even build a station so that our members aren't found working from their cars when they're locked out once again because the Department of Public Works has forgotten to renew the lease.
Or perhaps the money could be used to help the SAPS Air Wing, more than half of which is sitting gathering dust, with six of the aircraft grounded since before December 2012, probably the Robinson R44s bought for the World Cup, but never used. I have asked over and over about this matter, but the NPC has seemingly had no success.
The cynicism of the South African public in terms of our SAPS began around the time that Jackie Selebi was sentenced to 15 years after being found guilty of corruption, spent just 229 days in a hospital ward, and was released because he was on the verge of death. He wasn't. Obviously. Schabir Shaik wasn't either, and he's seen playing golf and dining out regularly in Durban.
Then, of course, I could show the new Minister what destruction was wreaked in the SAPS by the now Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Bheki Cele. I welcomed his sacking as National Police Commissioner on 12 June 2012 after the Public Protector found his actions were "improper, unlawful, and amounted to maladministration". The Molio Police Board of Inquiry recommended that criminal charges be considered as he was guilty of gross misconduct.
So, we laid charges, yet now he's a colleague in the Ministerial benches, and the SAPS have somehow in the past two years found it impossible ... [Interjections.]