At least 58 Ekurhuleni metro police were convicted for assault, 41 for theft and for rape when the city last vetted their law enforcement officials in 2022.
The city resumed the vetting of the Ekurhuleni metro police department (EMPD) workers on Monday following damning allegations of corruption that have come out of the Madlanga commission.
The city last vetted its metro officers in 2022. At the time, 275 officers were found to have had previous convictions:
- 33 workers were convicted for drunk driving;
- seven for fraud;
- four for murder;
- four for rape; and
- six for drug possession.
Of the 100 officers that were awaiting trial in 2022:
- 15 were facing murder charges; and
- another fraud and eight for robbery.
The process to vet more than 3,500 EMPD began on Monday with senior officials. The process is set to take two months and those with criminal records will face immediate disciplinary action, whereas those convicted for serious cases such as murder will be automatically dismissed, said chief audit executive Phillip Rakgwale.
The vetting was necessitated by revelations at the Madlanga commission and the need to comply with legislation that requires annual vetting of officers as per the SAPS Act.
“After the Madlanga revelations, the mayor late last year instructed us to undergo this process of vetting the metro officers. The most important thing is that, as part of the legislation, the officers must be vetted annually,” he said.
The verification had been paused since 2022 due to instability and changes in the leadership, as well as internal issues at the EMPD.
“Some of these were exemplified in the Madlanga commission, but going forward, we are going to have it annually.”
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