ACTION Society has called for an open process in the search for the new national police commissioner.
The current commissioner Khehla Sitole’s term comes to an end on Thursday, 31 March.
Action Society’s community safety director Ian Cameron said in a statement that an external panel to vet candidates for the commissioner position has been appointed. “Unfortunately, the whole process is too secretive. There needs to be more transparency about the panel and the process followed in the appointing of a new national commissioner,” he said.
He said the civil rights organisation has been informed that General Francinah Vuma was among the people considered.
“If General Vuma is at all being considered to replace Sitole, the process is already flawed. Vuma was found guilty on corruption charges with Sitole just last year,” said Cameron.
Sitole was axed after a scathing judgment handed down on 13 January 2021 by Judge Norman Davis in the North Gauteng High Court.
It was found that Sitole and his two deputies, Vuma and Lebeoana Tsumane, had placed the interests of the governing party, the ANC, ahead of those of the country.
This was in relation to Sitole’s three-year attempt to stop an investigation into the attempted procurement of a “grabber” at the inflated price of R45 million prior to the ANC’s elective conference at Nasrec in December 2017.
Cameron said the failing South African Police Service leadership can no longer fall victim to ANC cadre deployment.
He said: “Action Society still holds its position that an external panel of policing experts should handle the restructuring of the entire police management according to merit and not political affiliation.
“This panel should be made up of individuals who understand what it means to work through the ranks but also have the necessary theoretical knowledge to determine who should be the national commissioner, deputy commissioner, divisional commissioners, their deputies and other top provincial positions.”
