ANC has 'failed to transform the police'

25 November 2015 - 02:25 By Kingdom Mabuza

Police union Popcru has accused the ANC of failing to transform the police. "The ANC has let us down; they allowed the police department to transform itself," Popcru president Zizamele Cebekhulu said at labour federation Cosatu's national congress in Midrand yesterday."The ANC has left [the police] in the hands of those who were in charge before 1994."He said the failure of the ruling party to transform the police had led to the killing of officers and ineffectiveness in fighting crime.He said municipal and railways police, and former MK and Apla operatives, were integrated into the SAPS without recourse to a human resources strategy."The structure that existed before 1994 is still in place and cannot deal with changing crime patterns," he said.He said of 60 police officers killed on duty this year, 70% were members of his union."When you raise these matters with the minister of police he runs away. We need a serious turnaround in the criminal justice system."He said the police were still led by white officers who had occupied senior positions before 1994."There is no change from the police department that existed before 1994 to the police that is run by the ANC," he said.The growth of private security companies is a big concern for Cosatu. According to a federation political and socioeconomic report, private security agencies are better armed than state security organs such as the police and the military.The report asserts that the private security industry has its roots in the apartheid system, and was used to complement the apartheid police force."The industry has continued to grow and had an estimated net worth of about R30-billion in 2012."..

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