EDITORIAL | Don’t just sack crooked cops; prosecute them

The dismissal of Maj-Gen Richard Shibiri as the head of the organised crime division in Gauteng is a step in the right direction in efforts to rid the police service of the rot that has clearly had a stranglehold over its senior management.

Shibiri is one of the senior officers who have been exposed at the Madlanga commission for having had questionable relations with individuals suspected of involvement in criminal activities.

During his appearance before the commission investigating allegations by KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, it was revealed that Shibiri had — among other things — accepted money from Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala, the man at the centre of allegations that a criminal gang had captured senior police officers and politicians.

He has also been accused of trying to stall a police investigation into the murder of Armand Swart, an engineer who was shot in Vereeniging in what is believed to be a case of mistaken identity.

Shibiri denied the allegations at the commission, but clearly it is now one of the issues that the special task team set up to investigate Madlanga commission matters is looking at.

When President Cyril Ramaphosa reacted to Mkhwanazi’s allegations in July last year by appointing a commission, there was much scepticism, engendered by a belief that the head of state was, once again, kicking the can down the road.

Current developments suggest that action is being taken. However, as citizens, we should remain vigilant and continue to put pressure on the authorities to act, lest they think that firing a police chief here and suspending a couple of officers there would be enough to pacify the public

However, the commission has shown itself to be of great value in exposing much of the dirt that is clogging the criminal justice system.

Shibiri’s dismissal, as well as the suspension of nine police officers who served in the bid evaluation committee that awarded Matlala a R360m police contract despite his criminal record, further demonstrates the commission’s effectiveness.

However, South Africans will not be satisfied with dismissals and suspensions; they will want to see that all those who abused their authority, and were in cahoots with criminals, face the full might of the law.

The Zondo commission, appointed to investigate state capture, became discredited in the eyes of the public over time — not because retired chief justice Raymond Zondo and his team did not do their work but because their lengthy investigation was not followed by major arrests and convictions of those who were behind the wanton looting.

So far it seems that the same mistake will not be repeated with the Madlanga commission even while the commission sits. Current developments suggest that action is being taken. However, as citizens, we should remain vigilant and continue to put pressure on the authorities to act, lest they think that firing a police chief here and suspending a couple of officers there would be enough to pacify the public.

Evidence at the commission this week over the theft of R200m worth of seized drugs that were under the supervision of the police in Port Shepstone on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast showed that corruption within the police service had become so endemic that some officers were no longer just aiding and abetting the criminals, they were now staging heists themselves.

Such levels of criminality and gangsterism are not going to be rooted out purely through human resources management tools such as suspensions and dismissals. They require that the state throw the book at the criminal officers, no matter how senior they may have been within the service.