Sitole told Parliament that an “independent” discipline unit needs to be established
The Portfolio Committee on Police has heard that discipline management needs reform to address loopholes and the conflicts of interest which protect police officers accused of violence from facing consequences. Archive photo: Ashraf Hendricks
National police commissioner General Khehla Sitole has admitted to Parliament that discipline management at the South African Police Service (SAPS) needs to be overhauled. This comes after MPs used findings from a recent Viewfinder investigation to question SAPS about its continued reluctance to discipline officers implicated in violent crimes.
Sitole told a meeting of the Portfolio Committee on Police (PCP) dedicated to the topic of police “discipline management” last Wednesday that police discipline regulations needed to be amended and that SAPS needs an “independent” discipline unit. These reforms could help address the loopholes and the confli
Photo: Darren Stewart/Gallo Image
The Portfolio Committee on Police is concerned about discipline in the police, with committee chairperson Tina Joemat-Pettersson likening the prevalence of torture and assault to that of the apartheid police.
To boot, the police and Independent Police Investigative Directorate s (IPID) figures on disciplinary cases did not correspond.
Police and IPID management appeared before the committee on Wednesday for a briefing on police discipline management and IPID s charges against police officers. Support independent journalism Subscribe to News24 for just R75 per month to read all our investigative and in-depth journalism. Subscribe
The Independent Police Investigative Directorate should not be seen as being at loggerheads with the South African Police Service. Instead, their work should complement one another.