Cape Town – The SAPS charged 11 cops with murders in 2021/22 and showed eight police members the door for the same offence, police told MPs.
Police commissioner General Fannie Masemola submitted a report to MPs that painted a picture of a dark element of murderous and rapist cops in the SAPS.
There are allegations of robberies against cops, although no one has been convicted yet, Masemola’s report said.
He had been asked by Freedom Front Plus leader Pieter Groenewald for details about the number of cases in which SAPS members were found guilty of murder, rape and robbery and the punitive measures taken in each case.
Masemola said 11 officers were charged with murder, with eight of them dismissed and three of them suspended without salary for not more than two months.
“The (three) members were charged with murder, however in the departmental hearing there was insufficient evidence for a murder conviction (but) they were found guilty of other charges, i.e. omitting to report or follow a certain procedure. Two cases have been sent back to the provincial commissioner for a review,” he said.
Masemola didn’t specify where the cases occurred.
Without going into the specifics, he said six cops were found guilty of rape and dismissed.
Masemola said 11 officers were arrested for robberies. He said only nine were found guilty, but none of them had yet been prosecuted.
Of the nine found guilty, six were dismissed, while three received warnings.
“The members were charged with robbery, however, in the disciplinary hearing there was insufficient evidence for a robbery conviction and they were found guilty of other misconduct, i.e. leaving their post without authorisation,” he said.
Masemola said three officers were on remand for robbery before the courts, while robbery cases against three other members were withdrawn, and five officers were still under investigation.
Attempts to solicit comment from police labour representatives in the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union and the SA Policing Union drew a blank. Groenewald’s phone rang unanswered.
The statistics come months after former SA Human Rights Commission chairperson Chris Nissen called on Masemola to deal with police officers who abused citizens.
The Cape Argus, citing Independent Police Investigative Directorate executive director Jennifer Ntlatseng’s report to MPs in October, reported that more than 300 people had allegedly died at the hands of police in the Western Cape in the past year.
Cape Argus
