Recent reports that President Cyril Ramaphosa has served National Police Commissioner Gen Khehla Sitole with notice to suspend him does not come as a surprise.
In March, the North Gauteng High Court found that Sitole and his team had failed to provide declassified documents to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) to enable it to investigate alleged fraud and corruption.
The court found Sitole had breached his duties as a police officer by intentionally frustrating Ipid's probes into suspected corrupt procurement deals in the crime intelligence unit.
This came on the back of reports that Sitole and police minister Bheki Cele don’t see eye to eye. It is believed their poor relationship is the reason the police reacted badly to the July unrest.
It was hard to watch the scenes on TV of the looting, burning and destruction of people’s properties and businesses happening in front of police officers. In some places the police were nowhere to be found, leaving residents with no choice but to take matters into their own hands.
When there is no clear leadership there is no proper planning in dealing with the different kinds of criminality faced by communities. There is no clear strategy on where to deploy resources.
Every organisation rises and falls on the strength of its leadership, and right now the leadership of our police service is showing a lot of weaknesses.
While the crisis of leadership in the police service continues, crime is getting out of control. The people of this country don’t feel safe any more. The South African government is failing to protect its citizens, all because of egos in senior management.
We are seeing certain communities terrorised by gangsters and criminals to the point where children cannot go to school because of fear of the marauding gangs who rule their streets.
The horrors of little or no government-provided safety or law and order are on display in various communities. Unfortunately, those of us who live in gated areas and can afford private security are sometimes oblivious to the realities of gang violence.
The source of this out-of-control crime is leadership that is poor or even totally lacking. Unless Ramaphosa confronts the issue of police leadership head-on and deals with it once and for all, our country will continue to suffer under this challenge of crime.
The sooner Ramaphosa stabilises the leadership of the police the better for SA. We need a country that is free from crime and gender-based violence. Citizens are always ready to partner with the police to defeat the scourge of crime. With the right leadership, and working together with communities, we can overcome this challenge.
• McCauley is president of Rhema Family Churches and chair of the National Religious Leaders Council
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