Urgent call from the South African Policing Union (SAPU) on President Ramaphosa to intervene in the leadership crisis of the South African Police Service (SAPS)
Drickus Maartens • May 10, 2021
Urgent call from the South African Policing Union (SAPU) on President Ramaphosa to intervene in the leadership crisis of the South African Police Service (SAPS)
The South African Policing Union (SAPU) has noted with grave concern of the
deteriorating relationship between the Minister of Police and the National
Commissioner of the SAPS which is now unfortunately playing out in the public
domain.
SAPU, as a responsible and independent union vows to stay impartial between the
tug of war between the current National Commissioner of Police and the Minister of
Police, and not comment on who has the power to appoint senior managers in the
SAPS in terms of legislation; however, SAPU wants to ventilate that as it is in the best
interest of all citizens of South Africa, the current impasse has to stop immediately
and therefore SAPU is calling on the President of South Africa to urgently intervene
as the Office of the President is the only entity that can call these particular roleplayers to order.
Unfortunately, the relationship between the National Commissioner of Police and
the Minister of Police was strained from the beginning, and miserably deteriorated
further over time with the Minister of Police even publically calling on the President
to remove General Sitole from office. It is assumed that the President has been
trying to deal with the rivalry between the Minister of Police and the National
Commissioner in-house for some time now, but a letter written by the Minister of
Police to the National Police Commissioner has been circulating publicly proving that
the relationship between these two offices is broken irretrievably and that is a
national crisis.
South Africa is ravaged with crime, a shortage of functional police officers and
Gender Based Violence reaching a point of extremity to a point that it was even
declared a second pandemic by President Ramaphosa. South Africa cannot succeed
to fight crime as a united front while the political and operational head of the SAPS is
at warfare with each other. It is impossible that the day-to-day management of the
SAPS can be run efficient when critical key appointments of senior officers are done
with the National Commissioner announcing appointments in top leadership
positions, and simultaneously the Minister of Police is withdrawing these
appointments. No respectable institution can be successfully managed in this
manner, and certainly not a police force. One cannot but wonder if the rivalry
between these two is to score a political goal or if it is for personal reasons?
SAPU deems it important to note that the SAPS management and Organised Labour
signed a collective agreement in the bargaining council on 30 November 2020 in
order to facilitate the restructuring of the SAPS whereby all members of the SAPS
had to be appointed in new positions in the organisation. It is thus disappointing to
note that almost six months later, only 13 managers have been appointed in new
positions from a total of over 170 000 staff members. Failure to successfully
implement the above can be solely blamed on the poor relationship between the
Minister of Police and the National Police Commissioner. It is important to further
note that there are at least two provinces who have been without a provincial
commissioner for some time now due to the focus that is on who has the power to
appoint a senior official rather than focussing on the best candidate for the job.
SAPU has a responsibility to protect all police officers and can only trust that the
President of South Africa will act swiftly and decisively in handling this situation once
and for all as it is in the best interest of all citizens. History unfortunately also proves
that it has been a mistake to appoint a former National Police Commissioner as a
Minister of Police, as the role of these two separate individuals might get intertwined and became a grey area as the former might still want to conduct operational tasks, while the blunt truth and reality is that there is no place for inhouse conflict and rivalry in this environment, as the consequences of these type of poor leadership and management will have dire effects on the efficiency of the
police force.
Issued by: Tumelo Mogodiseng
General Secretary
2024
SAPU WELCOMES THE ESTABLISHMENT AND THE LAUNCH OF BORDER MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY
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SAPU IS CALLING FOR THE RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SPECIALISED UNITS IN SAPS
South African Policing Union (SAPU) in the Eastern Cape has noted with grave concern the increase in mass murders taking place in our province. This weekend several people were killed at a private birthday party in Nomjila Street, Kwazakhele. This is the third incident of mass killings in the last two weeks. SAPU calls for the establishment of specialised units, specifically Murder and Robbery units which must focus on the mass killings which leave many families stricken with grief. These families have a right to have these killings speedily investigated and that the perpetrators are arrested and charged. Since 2020 South African Policing Union (SAPU) has called on the SAPS management to re-establish all specialized units which were closed in 2008. The closure of these units has hindered investigations and has demoralized dedicated and committed police officers. Murder and robbery as well as serious and violent crime units were among those units closed, thus the rise in those crimes. The recent establishment of police teams to deal with specific types of crimes has vindicated SAPU’s call for specialized units to be brought back. The implications of these high crime levels and the increases are enormous, and they need to be addressed, we can’t wait we need to do this now. Issued by: SAPU Eastern Cape Contact: Leon Naude Provincial Secretary
South African Policing Union (SAPU) in the Eastern Cape has noted with grave concern the increase in mass murders taking place in our province. This weekend several people were killed at a private birthday party in Nomjila Street, Kwazakhele. This is the third incident of mass killings in the last two weeks. SAPU calls for the establishment of specialised units, specifically Murder and Robbery units which must focus on the mass killings which leave many families stricken with grief. These families have a right to have these killings speedily investigated and that the perpetrators are arrested and charged. Since 2020 South African Policing Union (SAPU) has called on the SAPS management to re-establish all specialized units which were closed in 2008. The closure of these units has hindered investigations and has demoralized dedicated and committed police officers. Murder and robbery as well as serious and violent crime units were among those units closed, thus the rise in those crimes. The recent establishment of police teams to deal with specific types of crimes has vindicated SAPU’s call for specialized units to be brought back. The implications of these high crime levels and the increases are enormous, and they need to be addressed, we can’t wait we need to do this now. Issued by: SAPU Eastern Cape Contact: Leon Naude Provincial Secretary
The South African Policing Union in the Northern Cape is concerned about SAPS electing to collaborate with some but not all community members across all demographics in the Province to fight crime and social injustice.