R350m needed to beef up Saps ranks

Conceding to weaknesses in effectively dealing with the violence and looting which engulfed KwaZulu-Natal and parts of Gauteng, the SA Police Service top brass yesterday said it would require an additional R350 million to beef up its ranks.

Deputy Police Minister Cassel Mathale told the parliamentary portfolio committee on police: “We encountered a moment that none of us thought would happen in our country.

“We had to act against a [former] head of state Jacob Zuma for a sentence that was meted out by the Constitutional Court.

“From that moment of arrest, the country had to go through five days of a volatile situation, which culminated in the arrest.

“What followed was another unprecedented moment, which led to an expectation too huge to be handled by the police alone.

“Despite the difficulties, I must concede we could have acted better than we did. But, under the circumstances, security forces have ensured that we don’t go the slippery slope, which has no end.

“As we speak, currently there is some kind of normality that has been restored – made possible not only through the work of the Saps but the response of the people.

“We are not yet over this situation, but police cannot succeed on their own.”

Major-General Leon Rabie, head of Saps strategic management, said the “provisional budget” would cover:

• All-inclusive overtime allowance.
• Night shift or service allowance.
• Remuneration of reservists being called up.
• Meal allowance when deployed away from normal place of work.
• Accommodation and incidental allowance.

But MPs seemed more interested in the police performance in containing the violence and looting. They said it could have been addressed, if earlier remarks by State Security Minister Ayanda Dlodlo that she warned Saps much earlier about plans for the unrest before it started were anything to go by.

Democratic Alliance MP Andrew Whitfield was scathing: “I want to echo sentiments made by the deputy minister of police in paying tribute to private security formations and civilian community policing structures for acting as a force to compliment Saps and members of the SA National Defence Force, in efforts to contain the violence seen in KZN and in Gauteng.

“We thank those hard-working police officers, trying their best against what has been an obvious failure of Saps, with the deputy minister having acknowledged that Saps could have done better in responding to the origins of the unrest.”

Whitfield urged police to investigate what he described as “terrorist activity against a constitutional democracy”.

“The president has said this has been a coordinated and instigated approach against the state. According to the minister of intelligence, a dossier was provided to Saps to act, but they failed to do so. It is abundantly clear for all to see that the Saps has been caught sleeping.

“Even five days later, we are not inspired that police are in control of the situation.”

– brians@citizen.co.za