The Implications of the Appointment of Another Civilian to Lead the South African Police Service
President Zuma’s appointment of a civilian, Riah Phiyega, as National Commissioner of Police came as a surprise, despite arguably better-qualified police officers.
Dr Johan Burger, Senior Researcher, Crime and Justice Programme, ISS Pretoria
On
Tuesday, 12 June 2012, President Jacob Zuma announced his decision to ‘release’
General Bheki Cele of his duties as National Commissioner of the South African
Police Service (SAPS). At the same time he announced the appointment of another
civilian, Mangwashi ‘Riah’ Phiyega, to replace Cele. Almost unnoticed, against
the backdrop of these two important announcements, the President also thanked
Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi for acting as National Commissioner of
the SAPS during the last few months and effectively relieving him of this duty.
His future deployment in the SAPS is still to be announced.
Phiyega’s
appointment certainly came as a surprise. That there was not a single one
amongst more than twenty senior lieutenant generals from which a national
commissioner could be appointed is more than an indictment against the SAPS, it
is a vote of no confidence. It is grossly unfair to paint all senior officers
with a brush of incompetence and corruption because of the alleged activities
of a few. It ignores the fact that the majority of them are honest and decent
members of the SAPS who demonstrated their solidarity in the face of attempts
to stop criminal investigations against those accused of criminal conduct. This
blatant snubbing of the police’s leadership cannot be conducive to public trust
and neither will it encourage confidence by police members generally in their
own management.
It would
have meant so much more for the SAPS if, during precisely these troubled times,
one of their own was appointed in an open and transparent process. It would
have gone a long way towards restoring some pride within the police, as well as
public confidence. Unfortunately, this did not happen and it must be assumed
that the appointment of yet another civilian to lead the organisation may have
quite the opposite effect.
The sensibility
of appointing a social worker with good administrative skills to lead the SAPS
in the face of arguably better-qualified police officers during these difficult
times can be questioned. If there is a need to add management skills to the
SAPS, a lesson can be learned from the appointment in 1997 of Meyer Kahn, Group
Chairman of South African Breweries as Chief Executive in the SAPS for a period
of two years. Given his vast business management experience Kahn was requested
to assist the national commissioner at the time, George Fivaz, in this regard,
not to replace him.
However, the
fact is that on Tuesday Phiyega was promoted from a civilian to a full general
and to the position of National Commissioner of the SAPS. From all accounts she
is a highly competent person in her own right and her integrity is attested to
by all who know her. Let there be no illusions, she faces a daunting task with
the many problems that continue to plague the SAPS, including the challenges
relating to the Richard Mdluli-saga, and the enormous responsibility to get the
SAPS back on track to fighting crime. She will need all the support she can get
and we should give it to her.
Concerning
Cele, it is obvious that the President had very little choice but to act
against him. He was faced by the findings and recommendations in two reports,
the report by the Public Protector during July 2011 and the more recent report
(May 2012) by a Board of Inquiry chaired by Judge Jake Moloi. The Public
Protector found that Cele’s actions in relation to the acquiring of office
space for the SAPS was ‘improper, unlawful, and amounted to maladministration’.
The Moloi Inquiry, appointed as a result of the Public Protector’s findings,
found that Cele was unfit for office and recommended that he be removed.
After
the disastrous experience with the two previous national commissioners, one
would have thought that Zuma would have given a little more thought to the
possibility of appointing a new national commissioner from the ranks of the
police. So why then did he choose, for the third time in a row, to again
appoint a civilian in this position? In his announcement he referred to the
need for ‘corrective measures’. It is unclear whether this was a reference to
the damage done by Cele or to the wider scale problems that exist within the
Service, including the serious allegations of fraud and corruption relating to
the Secret Services Account. The only indication of what he meant with
‘corrective measures’ is that it includes ‘management and financial systems’
and ‘breaches of information security’. In the latter case he referred to
events of the past few weeks that saw the ‘disappointing spectacle of police
officers jeopardizing state security by placing information in the public
domain’.
The
last remark also leaves us wondering precisely what it is Zuma is referring to.
The only ‘reports’ that were leaked was the so-called ‘Ground Cover
Intelligence Report’ by the suspended head of the SAPS’ Crime Intelligence
Division, Mdluli, in November 2011 to Zuma, alleging a conspiracy against the
President. The second ‘report’ was a letter to Zuma earlier this year, also
produced by Mdluli, this time claiming that there was a conspiracy by a number
of his senior colleagues who ‘wanted him out because he was seen as a Zuma-man’.
The third is a secret report by Major General Mark Hankel from Crime
Intelligence, during November 2011, to the Inspector General of Intelligence.
The report is titled ‘Report to the Inspector General of Intelligence on
the matter of alleged mal-administration and crimes committed in respect of the
Secret Services Account (SSA) of the Crime Intelligence Division of the South
African Police Service’. This is a damning report and contains much of the
evidence for the allegations of fraud and corruption against Mdluli and others
in Crime Intelligence.
It should be
clear then that the only information that was leaked were the two notes by
Mdluli, the same person who was being investigated for murder, fraud and
corruption, and the secret report by Hankel pointing out the details of how the
secret services account was plundered by Mdluli and others. The ‘disappointing
spectacle’ that Zuma refers to had everything to do with this scandal and the
attempts by a young and relatively inexperienced acting national commissioner,
Lieutenant General Mkhwanazi, supported by like-minded honest and dedicated
senior officers, to ensure that these criminal investigations were carried out
to their logical conclusion. But they were frustrated in these attempts by
political interference that saw them being forced to halt these investigations
and to lift the suspension of Mdluli. If anything was a ‘spectacle’, it was
this kind of interference.
Mkhwanazi’s
defiance of clear political interference (which he referred to as ‘powers
beyond us’) and his uncompromising stand against those in the SAPS who are
corrupt, certainly did not earn him any accolades. This may also explain why
the initial enthusiasm that accompanied his surprise appointment as acting
national commissioner was replaced by a cool goodbye just a few months later.
But there is more to it. Not only was Mkhwanazi overlooked for the top
appointment, so also were all his more senior colleagues, including four deputy
national commissioners, nine provincial commissioners and the remaining ten
divisional commissioners. Most of these are highly experienced police officers
with more than adequate senior management experience and, perhaps even more
importantly, a good understanding of the unique sub-culture that is shared
amongst police organisations all over the world.
