BARNEY MTHOMBOTHI | Our disgusting brigadiers and generals are the problem

Watching the senior police officers on parade at the Madlanga commission contort themselves as they try to deny the obvious leaves one with a feeling of nausea and utter disgust. How could we have entrusted our safety and security to such dishonest, dissembling and clearly dim-witted individuals?

And the fact that such devious characters are respectfully addressed as brigadiers, generals and so forth also tends to stick in the craw. These people are crooks — in bed with criminals — who’ve not only betrayed public trust in the justice system but whose actions or inactions often lead to injury, even death, among innocent people.

They lie with a straight face, which just goes to show the type of people leading the police. We listen with utter amazement as a brigadier shamelessly tells disbelieving commissioners that she’s a secret mistress of an alleged criminal to justify the expensive bribes he’d given her.

These people should consider themselves lucky to be living in South Africa where crime is often tolerated, even celebrated. In countries such as China or Saudi Arabia, death by firing squad would have been their just desserts.

They wouldn’t be wasting time and money on expensive commissions of inquiry whose recommendations are promptly put aside and forgotten. How do we deal with crime when the police themselves are the perpetrators of the scourge?

This inquiry was triggered by Senzo Mchunu’s brainless decision to disband the political killings task team without hardly consulting or forewarning the police

After some unexplained delay, President Cyril Ramaphosa in January finally acted on the Madlanga commission’s interim report, naming 14 high-ranking police officers and Ekurhuleni municipal officials to be investigated for allegations ranging from corruption to fraud, perjury, murder and other wrongdoings.

Ramaphosa also directed acting police minister Firoz Cachalia and national police commissioner Fannie Masemola to constitute a special investigations task team to report directly to Masemola.

We should, I suppose, be thankful for small mercies. Given Ramaphosa’s tardiness in most things, that such small steps have been taken should be regarded as progress of sorts. Cachalia is still getting himself accustomed to his role, and will probably soon be gone anyway, and so Ramaphosa seems to have put his faith in Masemola.

But how can the police be expected to investigate themselves? Masemola is overall head of the police and the rot has taken place under his nose. He knew or heard, for instance, that his number two, Shadrack Sibiya, was up to some mischief, but doesn’t seem to have done anything about it. He should have been fired for incompetence or dereliction of duty. He certainly has no legitimacy to lead or oversee this investigation.

This inquiry was triggered by Senzo Mchunu’s brainless decision to disband the political killings task team without hardly consulting or forewarning the police.

When KwaZulu-Natal provincial police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi first raised the matter with him, Masemola didn’t seem to have objected to Mchunu’s decision. In fact, he seemed to have gone along with the idea, his only request being that the termination be done gradually, and not immediately as demanded by the police minister.

Even without such a cloud over him, Masemola would not have been the right person to oversee such an investigation

His evidence to both the Madlanga commission and the ad hoc committee was anything but convincing. It was of a man carefully taking care of his back.

Masemola is also not without a stain on his record. He has a few skeletons in the cupboard. The inspector-general of intelligence, Imtiaz Fazel, recommended in April already that Masemola face criminal and disciplinary charges for approving Criminal Intelligence’s splurge on properties worth R120m.

Fazel also recommended that CI head Maj-Gen Dumisani Khumalo, a Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi favourite, and his financial officer Maj-Gen Philani Lushaba, face similar charges. So far nothing has happened to the trio. Their star seems, at least for now, to be on the rise.

But in October, six months after the release of the IGI report recommending that Masemola be charged, Fazel himself was suspended by Ramaphosa.

According to the presidency, Fazel was put on suspension after parliament’s joint standing committee informed Ramaphosa that he was under investigation. Apparently, the law requires that the IGI be suspended pending the outcome of the investigation into his or her conduct.

The two incidents — Fazel’s recommendation that Masemola et al be charged and his subsequent suspension — may be unrelated. With the atmosphere shimmering with suspicion and intrigue, it is impossible not to smell a rat. But even if the whole thing were above board, why is Masemola treated differently? Why is he given such a crucial role in the investigation, almost as an expression of renewed confidence in him?

Don’t paper over the cracks. This is no time for half measures

It’s very likely he’ll use his role in supervising the investigation task team to cover his own tracks. How is he expected to respond if, for instance, the task team comes to him with evidence pointing to his own culpability?

Even without such a cloud over him, Masemola would not have been the right person to oversee such an investigation. Trust in the police is so low it’s almost non-existent.

It’s evident now that the reason they’ve so hopelessly failed to deal with crime is because they themselves have become a problem, if not a danger or threat to public safety. Police who connive with criminals and even snitch on the public on behalf of their criminal paymasters are nothing but wolves in sheep’s clothing.

In his state of the nation address this week, Ramaphosa said: “A stronger South Africa must be safe and secure.” Fine sentiments, but such words will ring hollow in the face of blatant criminality and lawlessness by those charged with ensuring society’s safety and security. Mistrust of the police is so deep-seated it’ll require a herculean effort to convince people otherwise. Tinkering at the edges, as Masemola’s role in the investigation seems to suggest, won’t do. It will instead fuel even more suspicion.

Don’t paper over the cracks. This is no time for half measures. Independent outsiders should be brought in to conduct a root-and-branch overhaul of the entire system, and the police should play no part in it. In fact, the top brass should all go. They are part of the problem.