JOHANNESBURG - Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia has called for the professionalisation of the South African Police Services (SAPS).
He announced that he will be setting up a governance panel to help in the process on Thursday. The intervention comes after more senior SAPS officials are set to face criminal charges.
Many have been exposed through testimony at the Ad Hoc Committee and Madlanga Commission.
A total of 12 senior officers appeared at the Pretoria Magistrate's Court on Wednesday along with businessman Vusimuzi 'Cat' Matlala.
READ: Tshwane CFO Gareth Mnisi placed on precautionary suspension
Professor Somadoda Fikeni, Public Service Commission Chair (PSC) said for the service to be professionalised, shock therapy will have to be applied to its ecosystem.
Such would mean moving away from loyalty.
"People are appointed because they are loyal or part of a faction or patronage system," says Fikeni.
"It would need to be turned into a system where people are appointed because of merit," he adds.
For that to happen, Fikeni said, there would need to be a review of the entire ecosystem, from the recruitment process, integrity testing, and the filtering of those who should be allowed to become police.
Fikeni said there should lifestyle audits and a clear separation of roles between political parties and those who are at the operations at a professional level.
"That would take us somewhere, from where we are now," he adds.
Part of the professionalisation process would include modernisation to digitisation as well as the integration of data.
"Sometimes a targeted approach into the criminal justice system of the SAPS might just be a need," he adds.
Fikeni said they were communicating with the acting Police Minister and the PSC is ready to assist.
Fikeni said that the SAPS needs to overhaul its service, as it has come to light at the Madlanga Commission that some metros and municipalities have been compromised.
"You cannot prosecute corruption out of the public service," he says.
"You can only implement reforms," he adds.
Fikeni says prosecuting and targeting affected individuals will only go so far. One has to study the organises the weaknesses so that they never happen again. The organisation can be more effective.
"South African has a tendency of allowing some things to go unchallenged and go on forever," says Fikeni.
"It is time for anticipatory governance, where you begin to be preemptive, where you begin to analyse," he says.
The South African Police have to look into the crimes of the future.