Crooked police won’t get a free pass just because Police Minister Nkosinathi Nhleko has given up on “fitness boards” set up to root out criminal elements in the South African Police Service.
In 2014, a labour court found the fitness boards were not an appropriate way to dismiss police with criminal records from the force.
But the minister fought the decision all the way to the labour appeal court where he finally threw in the towel at the last minute last week.
But his spokesman Musa Zondi said the battle was far from over.
They were simply going to find a “neater process” going forward, he said.
“The issue of criminal behaviour within the police will not be condoned. That is why the SAPS is now at pains to ensure that the calibre of new recruits is of such standard that we will avoid problems like these in future.”
He said the media would be advised at the “right time” on how the SAPS would rid itself of criminal elements.
The department set up the fitness boards to root out criminals cops after an audit of the police found in 2013 that some 1500 serving SAPS members had been convicted of offences ranging from rape to murder, corruption and fraud. Some had also been convicted of lesser offences such as shoplifting.
Nhleko to follow ‘neater process’
In 2014, a labour court found the fitness boards were not an appropriate way to dismiss police with criminal records from the force.
But the minister fought the decision all the way to the labour appeal court where he finally threw in the towel at the last minute last week.
But his spokesman Musa Zondi said the battle was far from over.
They were simply going to find a “neater process” going forward, he said.
“The issue of criminal behaviour within the police will not be condoned. That is why the SAPS is now at pains to ensure that the calibre of new recruits is of such standard that we will avoid problems like these in future.”
He said the media would be advised at the “right time” on how the SAPS would rid itself of criminal elements.
The department set up the fitness boards to root out criminals cops after an audit of the police found in 2013 that some 1500 serving SAPS members had been convicted of offences ranging from rape to murder, corruption and fraud. Some had also been convicted of lesser offences such as shoplifting.
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