Pretoria police cagey on drug involvement claims
Gauteng police management are unable to refute allegations that the police were involved in drug crimes and other corrupt activities.
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Gauteng police management are unable to refute allegations that the police were involved in drug crimes and other corrupt activities due to the number of arrests for corruption since January 2019, reports Pretoria East Rekord.
Spokesperson Brigadier Mathapelo Peters said management was concerned about the serious allegations against its officers that they were complicit in the drug activities in the Pretoria CBD.
The police were alleged to be in cahoots with the alleged drug peddlers they arrested for possession of drugs on Monday.
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According to taxi drivers, the police escorted the alleged drug peddlers or transported their drugs.
Chairperson of Tshwane taxi industry Piet Mahlangu told Rekord: “We are saying there are some police officers who are party to the drug dealers.
“Our drivers are seeing this … day in day out.”
He said when the taxi drivers apprehended drug dealers and handed them over to the police, nobody gave them feedback on progress.
“Obviously our drivers are being made angry by these police who do not seem prepared to hold hands and move with us to wipe out these killers (drug dealers).”
Mahlangu said he had proof of such incidents.
However, the police said the fight against drugs in Pretoria had been one of their strong focus areas.
Gauteng police commissioner Lieutenant-General Elias Mawela in February said his office had six priorities that needed (and still need) to be addressed as a matter of urgency towards bringing down the volumes of crime in the province.
“Three of these priorities focus specifically on addressing organised crime, the scourge of drugs and human trafficking and rooting out corruption from within the service,” said provincial police spokesperson Brigadier Mathapelo Peters.
Peters said to this end, the police had together with other law enforcement agencies, including the metro police, intensified operations such as O Kae Molao, which was now conducted weekly across the province.
She said some of the significant successes made during these operations included the arrest for possession and/or dealing in drugs.
“We arrested 842 suspects in Pretoria Central for possession and/or dealing in drugs, while 391 were arrested in Sunnyside since January,” Peters said.
Peters said the arrest and dismissal of police officers reaffirmed their commitment to fight corruption.
“Police are serious about combating fraud and corruption within and rooting out the criminal element within the service, in line with the SAPS national anti-corruption strategy launched in June 2018.
“The SAPS has a zero-tolerance approach to any unethical and corrupt conduct by members of the service. No one is above the law,” she said.
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