Sitole must still be held accountable

Last week, President Cyril Ramaphosa finally pulled the trigger, firing police commissioner Kehla Sitole. 

This is five months after the president announced his intention to suspend Sitole and to institute an inquiry into his fitness to hold office. 

The tone of Ramaphosa’s announcement was, as expected, cordial and framed the move as a mutual agreement reached in the best interest of the country.

The reality, however, is that Ramaphosa had been increasingly under pressure to remove Sitole from office after what can only be termed as a disastrous stint characterised by police incompetence, leadership chaos in the SAPS and a damaging public discord with police minister Bheki Cele. 

Most damning for Sitole was a court finding that he and two of his generals had failed in their duties by frustrating corruption investigations – a ruling he has failed to appeal against. 

While Sitole’s departure from office is welcomed, we believe that he must still account for allegations against him during his tenure.

For example, in December, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate laid a criminal case against Sitole for his alleged refusal to co-operate with its probe into the murder of Cape Town anti-gang unit detective Charl Kinnear.

Sitole has previously rejected claims that he did not co-operate.

If true, the claims against Sitole would amount to abuse of power and obstruction of justice.

It is for this reason that we believe the probe into the matter must continue, even after Sitole’s departure from office next month. 

Furthermore, we urge Ramaphosa to speedily conclude the process of finding SA’s next top cop.

Crime in SA is out of control.

We live in fear of brazen criminals who are further emboldened by systemic weaknesses and corruption in our policing system.

The recent report into the July unrest is perhaps a profound reminder of how leadership instability in the higher echelons of our security cluster has made our society even more vulnerable to anarchy. 

We urgently need a competent leader of the police service to stabilise the organisation, push back against rampant crime and corruption, and to build public confidence in our men and women in blue.