Leadership of South African Police Union (SAPU) present
Presidents and General Secretaries from Trade Unions from South Africa, Lesotho, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Angola and Swaziland
Ms Ingrid Skjolaas, Advisor to the Norwegian Ambassador
Dr Nathan Meehan, Naval Research (Washington, USA)
Mr Mandla Mphuthi, National CPF Chairperson
Mr Kaajal Ramjathan-Keogh from Lawyers for Human Rights
Dr Vuyani Vellem from the University of Pretoria
Dr Dumisani Magadlela from the DBSA
Distinguished guests
Members of the media
Ladies and gentlemen
We thank the leadership of South African Police Union(SAPU) for inviting and affording us this opportunity to address this important symposium. We approach this gathering not as experts who know better than you, but as equal partners in finding solutions to eradicate corruption.
In fact, as the elected police leadership in government, we premise our war on corruption with an understanding that: service to society that we are accountable to, requires the highest level of ethical conduct and integrity. Any unethical conduct by public officials destroys the trust of citizens in public institutions and governance processes.
The symposium, under the theme: “Standing together against corruption and poor service delivery: Towards a generation of corrupt free public service institutions” could not have come at an appropriate time; a time when government has intensified its war on corruption. We therefore want to state upfront that we shall follow with interest post the symposium, the resolutions which can assist us in thwarting this scourge.
Government has placed considerable focus on the issue of corruption. Within our Justice, Crime Prevention and Security (JCPS) cluster, corruption has been identified as a specific focus area requiring attention. To address this, we resolved that together with other sectors we must aggressively and urgently combat the scourge of corruption in the public, private sectors and in society through advocacy.
We are also strengthening the legal and policy prescripts, frameworks aimed at combating corruption and ensuring implementation thereof by the law enforcement agencies.
Corruption is a systemic and institutional phenomenon involving all sectors of society. Its impact tends to undermine democratic processes and corporate governance, while eroding social cohesion and values. That is why measures to combat corruption must deal with both those who corrupt as well as those who are corrupted.
Members of society as well as police officials should continue to actively promote ethical, democratic values and lead by example. To this end, we enforce to our police to continuously provide leadership to society as a whole in the fight against corruption.
We need to regard corruption, especially in government and the parastatals not only as very serious anti-social behaviour, but in fact, an attack on the very essence of our social system we want to build. Part of addressing this challenge, would be to urgently introduce further mechanisms of accountability and transparency to avoid corrupt practices, but more importantly to bring the full extent of the law to bear upon such culprits.
The combating of corruption has emerged as a key priority for the South African Police Service (SAPS) which needs to be understood in the broader process of transformation of the institution. For the first time the department has linked corruption as a fundamental factor contributing to the undermining of service delivery.
Within the SAPS the focus is on two main areas; that is addressing corruption within and investigating corruption within government and private sector. The SAPS is currently finalising the review of its discipline regulations, including the establishment of a dedicated discipline management capacity.
At my instruction, the SAPS has revised its Anti corruption Strategy to ensure compliance with the Minimum Anti-Corruption Capacity (MACC) requirements as approved by Cabinet. The strategy focuses on four pillars: prevention, detection, investigation and restorative actions. Too ensure the implementation of this strategy; Anti-Corruption Action Plans have been developed at divisional, provincial and police station levels.
The SAPS also firmly supports all government steps and actions to combat corruption. Critical in fighting crime is the campaign to weed out elements within the criminal justice system who are engaged in various acts of crime, including corruption.
In brief, our programme in this period consists of achieving better policing, a better-trained and efficient criminal justice system, involvement of the society in the fight against crime, and a campaign to refurbish the moral fibre of South African society.
In the immediate sense, this initiative brings together the cream of South Africa’s leaders spurred on by the conviction that the time is now, to strike a decisive blow against crime and corruption. We need a collective sense of mission to change mind-sets; and to steer the nation away from a dangerous course.
As we fight corruption, presumably we too seek to create societies that are as morally-sound, pure and chaste as possible. If I could hazard a guess, I would say that all of us here would find no difficulty in identifying what kinds of activity would qualify to be described as corrupt.
Over the last two years there were more than 1 061 investigations registered by SAPS involving members who were alleged to be involved in corruption. Between September 2010 and February 2011 in Gauteng alone, after the new Provincial Commissioner was appointed, approximately 200 police officers were arrested for acts of crime and/or corruption.
Whilst all these initiatives must be seen as a more positive approach to corruption, there are still a number of challenges that need to be addressed. Some of these include: reluctance of police officers to report corrupt activities by their colleagues and reluctance of some police administrators to acknowledge corruption.
In addition, whilst the number of arrests and investigations by SAPS into police officers is extremely encouraging, to address corruption effectively we need to develop both a police and civil culture that supports a professional police and which acts against unprofessionalism in the police.
In addressing corruption generally within government, the Directorate for Priority Investigations (DPCI), also known as “The Hawks” has also taken decisive actions in combating corruption within both government and the private sector.
The DPCI lead team currently has 37 cases under investigation each involving a number of suspects. In addition 21 suspects, involved in corruption totally an amount of R437 million, have been arrested and their cases are now on the court roll. The DPCI has established an Anti-corruption Unit that works in collaboration with different departments. To date 76 public officials have been arrested and their cases are on the court roll.
The DPCI has also established the Operation Clean Audit in collaboration with the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA). The operation focuses on corruption at a local government level.
To date, a total of 362 cases have or are being investigated. 144 public officials and 120 members of the public have appeared in court. Linked to some of these cases the Hawks have also secured the conviction 60 public officials and 29 members of the public.
Whilst there is a lot of work being done within the police to address corruption, there is still more that can be done. Corruption within the police undermines trust in the police, diverts policing resources and undermines operational capacity. Most often this misconduct is perpetuated by factors such as the character of a police officer, organisational management systems, culture of the police department and the broader environment within which the police agency operates.
An important factor in improving police service delivery and preventing police corruption from occurring is for police managers to proactively promote a professional and positive police culture. For this to happen, police managers need to be able to manage the work performance of their members whilst leading by example.
Equally, while the investigations and approach of the DPCI are yielding considerable successes, the issue of government corruption cannot be left to the DPCI alone. Government departments need to ensure approaches that address both detection and prevention and that meet the standards of the Minimum Anti-Corruption Capacity (MACC) are in place at all levels.
Dealing with corruption must address both prevention and detection. It is not just about dealing with the individual cases and people that that come to our attention, but also about making sure our systems and process are able to prevention corruption.
Furthermore, there can be no doubt that all of us need to do everything in our power to give corruption in both public and private sectors no quarter whatsoever. Obviously, therefore, we could never discuss the issue of corruption without also requiring that we reflect on issues such as democracy, transparency, accountability and social inclusiveness.
Indeed, I remain confident that this symposium will help further to empower all of us to understand the legislative, institutional and other measures we need to put in place to increase our effectiveness in the fight against corruption.
Working together, we can do more to eradicate corruption.
I thank you.
