Veteran police and violence monitor Professor Mary de Haas joined the calls for the closure of the National Police Inspectorate division, citing that the division has not made much impact and that it is a dumping place for officers.

De Haas was responding to reports on Thursday that police Minister Senzo Mchunu and National Commissioner Fannie Masemola were considering closing the division.

“My experience of it in the 1990s was that it was a dumping ground for police members that management wanted to victimise and remove from posts where they were efficient as administrators or detectives, or some that were pretty dead wood.

“More recently, a very senior police member was shunted off there to lower his profile as he was facing rape charges. The problem is that policing culture among the police is a type of brotherhood, and police tend to cover for others who commit crimes.

“However, that is only when the police are part of the group favored by management, as nepotism has become the norm in the police since 2009. I and others are fighting for good police who were irregularly dismissed because they opposed corruption and management found them to be a threat,” she said.

She asserted her position, stating that there was no need for an Inspectorate because police could not investigate themselves.

“The vast problem, though, is that oversight and investigation are supposed to be done by Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) but it is failing altogether to do so. What we need – and this is in the National Development Plan policing recommendations, which should be taken seriously – is an Independent body to oversee appointments and promotions and, as a matter of urgency, the judicial oversight of Ipid."

Approached for comment, National Police Spokesperson Athlenda Mathe said she would not disclose much because Masemola was consulting.

“He is busy reviewing the structure to support the organisation's policing strategy. The organisation is currently busy consulting internal stakeholders. We can, therefore, not comment until consultations are concluded and the structure is approved,” she said.

Last year, President Cyril Ramaphosa signed a law that empowers the Independent Ipid to investigate serious crimes committed by police officers and municipal police service members, whether on or off duty.

The presidency stated the amended law gave effect to an earlier Constitutional Court judgment in the McBride v Minister of Police case, as well as another ruling that invalidated provisions in the Ipid Act, which allowed the Minister of Police to take disciplinary measures against the executive director of Ipid without parliamentary oversight.

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Is the Police Inspectorate a ‘dumping ground’ for officers? Calls for reform intensify