Last month, President Cyril Ramaphosa accepted the interim recommendations from the Madlanga commission, which triggered criminal referrals for possible prosecution of senior police and Ekurhuleni officials.
National police commissioner Fannie Masemola followed Ramaphosa’s referral by establishing a task team to investigate allegations of criminality emanating from the inquiry.
More startling revelations have been made at the commission on the alleged involvement of top police officers in dodgy dealings with alleged criminals.
These include the testimony of KwaZulu-Natal Hawks head Maj-Gen Lesetja Senona, whose integrity as a leader of a law enforcement agency is questionable after admitting to a personal relationship and close ties with crime suspect Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala.
Senona even admitted to sharing police information with Matlala, betraying the public trust in the agency he leads.
Another high-ranking police officer, Brig Rachel Matjeng, admitted to having a “romantic” relationship with Matlala, whom she asked to buy her the weight-loss drug Ozempic. Matjeng also received questionable payments from Matlala while she was overseeing the alleged cartel member’s R350m police tender, which was later cancelled for irregularities.
Then this week, suspended deputy police commissioner Lt-Gen Shadrack Sibiya admitted to sharing reports recommending the termination of Matlala’s tender two months before it was cancelled.
Sibiya also conceded to inviting Matlala to his son’s engagement party at his home and using Sgt Fannie Nkosi as a middleman to set up a meeting with Matlala.
These revelations from the most senior police officers in the South African Police Service are not just misjudgements but symbolise how deep the rot runs in our principal law enforcement agency. The implications are far-reaching for the police service, which has had its image battered for years by political interference and waning public trust.
By the time the Madlanga commission, which is investigating the infiltration of the criminal justice system by criminal elements, concludes its work, the credibility of our law enforcement will be non-existent.
This is why it is important for the authorities to act swiftly by charging some of these rogue elements in the police who have been exposed by the commission and not wait until its job is finished.
Many South Africans are already fatigued by commissions of inquiry exposing corruption but with little accountability following afterwards. What the public cannot afford is another delay in prosecuting those who are found on the wrong side of the law, as happened with the Zondo commission.
There is enough evidence that has been brought to the fore at the Madlanga commission to warrant the swift prosecution of these high-ranking officers.
