The appointment of Gen Sehlahle Fannie Masemola as commissioner of police will bring relief to a nation exasperated by the unseemly goings-on that have characterised the highest office in the police service.
Long before his departure last month, it was clear that the attention of the previous incumbent, Gen Khehla Sitole, was focused more on police palace politics than on fighting our intolerably high crime levels.
To start with, it is no secret that the relationship between Sitole and his political boss, police minister Bheki Cele, was virtually non-existent, with the acrimony between the two men often spilling over into the public domain. When testifying at the SA Human Rights Commission inquiry into last July’s unrest — which cost the country dearly in terms of lives and economic damage — Cele accused Sitole of “missing in action” at the height of the mayhem.
That frayed relationship was cited by the panel of experts into last July’s violence as one of the factors that prevented the provision of coherent leadership to the police service.
Sitole’s stay as head of the police service, which would have made it even more difficult to overcome the country’s rampant criminality, became untenable after the Pretoria high court found that he had breached his duties in failing to co-operate with the Independent Police Investigative Directorate in its probe into allegations of fraud and corruption.
Also, his continuing as commissioner and the conflict between him and Cele seriously undermined public confidence in the police, contributing as well to the demoralisation of officers.
By all accounts, Masemola fits the bill of the kind of leader the service and the country need at this time. He has extensive leadership experience in the police, having served for nearly three decades.
When announcing the appointment, President Cyril Ramaphosa read out what sounded like Masemola’s highly impressive curriculum vitae. The new commissioner’s “outstanding record of achievements” included de-escalating violence in KwaZulu-Natal after the 1994 national elections; “drastically reducing cash-in-transit crimes” in 2016, as well as being in charge of security arrangements for major events such as UN summits and the 2010 Fifa World Cup.
The appointment seems to have been widely welcomed. But Masemola’s tenure will not be a walk in the park. He faces enormous challenges left behind by his many predecessors, a fair number of whom left their posts under a cloud. One is the high crime rate, which includes murder and violence against women and children.
Masemola’s tenure will not be a walk in the park. He faces enormous challenges left behind by his many predecessors
Masemola will also have to refocus and properly resource a police service whose capacity to prevent, investigate and solve crimes has been degraded over many years, be they crimes against citizens or the state. In the latter case, the July riots gave us a taste of the high cost paid by society when policing fails.
As the president works hard to woo investors to the country, as he again did last week, it will be the task of the new commissioner, working with other security agencies, to bring to fruition the government’s objective of creating a safe environment for investment into our economy.
Masemola will also have to eradicate the factionalism and infighting that has become endemic in the service, distracting it from focusing on its raison d’être.
One of the causes of friction between Cele and Sitole was Cele’s apparent proclivity to want to micromanage the police top brass. Some say this was due to Sitole’s own reluctance to lead from the front and dirty his hands, in a manner of speaking. All of this served to blur the lines of accountability for policing.
Welcoming the new commissioner, Cele said the appointment “marks a new chapter in the life of the SAPS” and that the appointment had been met with “enthusiasm and optimism” in the service.
Cele now has a commissioner without the baggage of the previous incumbent. He must give him space to do his job. His job is to politically oversee the work of the police, not to usurp the commissioner’s role of running the police. He must resist the temptation to do both.
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