EDITORIAL | The SAPS must ensure its officers are irreproachable

The SA Police Service (SAPS) can draw many lessons from Nomia Rosemary Ndlovu’s case. The police sergeant-turned-serial killer’s trial ended in the high court in Palm Ridge last week.

Ndlovu, who judge Ramarumo Monama said “soiled the blue uniform” she was meant to have worn with pride, “tainted the image of the police” force and was an “embarrassment to her colleagues”, was convicted of murdering six of her relatives, allegedly to cash in on insurance policies.

But it was the evidence that she stole guns and sold them to criminals that should call for deep introspection among those the SAPS enlists each year.

In Ndlovu’s case, a sting operation in March 2018 led to her being caught on camera telling would-be hitmen to kill her sister and an undercover police officer how easy it was to gain access to the Thembisa south police station safe, steal guns and sell them to criminals. Ndlovu worked at the station.

It was her nonchalance, which revealed she had no fear about this information possibly resulting in an investigation, her arrest or an end to her career, that is reason for concern. 

It’s important to point out that, a year after Ndlovu’s arrest, police minister Bheki Cele revealed that the SAPS lost more than 9,5-million rounds of ammunition and 4,357 firearms between 2013 and August 2019. How many of these were stolen by SAPS members?

Ndlovu has not been charged after her alarming confession about gun theft. She was simply dismissed from the police force after her murder spree.

If the SAPS fails to strengthen its intake criteria, it may need to concede that it gives employment, guns and power to many of her ilk.

It is not known how many guns she may have stolen and sold during her years as a police officer. While she was convicted of six murders, nothing was said about how many lives could have been lost because of the guns she sold to criminals.

It is horrific to think that these weapons could have been used in hijackings, robberies and murder. The motive for Ndlovu’s “murder-for-insurance” crimes and the theft and sale of guns boils down to one thing — greed.

While job scarcity may be a reason many young people enrol for the SAPS each year, a passion to serve and protect the country’s citizens should be the ultimate requirement for enrolment. Does the police service put this to the test at all before enlisting prospective police officers?

While scores of them are arrested each year for a variety of crimes, murder included, one cannot take away from the fact that there are good police officers, many of whom played crucial roles in Ndlovu's conviction. This includes the investigating officer in her case, Sgt Benneth Keshi Mabunda, who risked his life to bring down Ndlovu. The seasoned officer learnt of her alleged plot to have him assassinated shortly after her arrest. She is yet to go on trial in this regard.

Had it not been for Mabunda catching sight of the life and funeral insurance policies Ndlovu had in her possession when she walked into the police station in October 2015, wanting them to be signed off, her killing spree is likely to have continued.

And had it not been for Mabunda’s dedication to the oath he took as a police officer, he could have dismissed his gut feeling on the issue as improbable because Ndlovu had taken the same oath.

More concerning is the possibility that there may be more Nomia Rosemary Ndlovus in the police service. 

If the SAPS fails to strengthen its intake criteria, it may need to concede that it gives employment, guns and power to many of her ilk.