By Rachel Mohamed
The newly appointed chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Police in Parliament, Ian Cameron said on VOC Breakfast on Friday, “We [have] got a massive task ahead of us because over the years the oversight roles that have been put in place by the Constitution but have not been necessarily utilized.
On a personal level, the former crime activist and director of Community Safety for the lobby group Action Society, Cameron feels being appointed as the chairperson “is an opportunity to be a voice for the voiceless, not only for people on the ground level but for victims of violent crimes and also to the good cops out there, as sometimes people often underestimate the rough circumstances in which they work,” he said.
Furthermore, he highlighted the public viewpoint on issues of mistrust within the police services and his work as a crime activist exposing corruption within the police services.
“There is a huge issue with mistrust in the police and I am one of the people who have exposed massive corruption within the South African Police Services.
One example is there are several senior members of the SA police service implicated in the murder of Charl Kinnear, but they are still in their blue uniform, and I think not only do they spit off the careers of good police members but question the integrity of SAPS management,” he added.
It was nearly four years ago, on 18 September 2020 when Anti-Gang Unit commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Charl Kinnear was gunned down outside his home in Bishop Lavis, Cape Town. It’s alleged that he was investigating the deep connection between organized crime and law enforcement in the country and was a step closer to exposing it.
It is believed that the ex-head of Crime Intelligence in the Western Cape Major General Mzwandile Tiyo used his position as head of the crime intelligence by abusing power and using resources within SAPS by tracking down the suspect, assaulting, and kidnapping those who stole his firearm after he left it in the car and went to the tavern.
“Another example is Tiyo who is still in service of SAPS the way processes have been followed but there are still delays and after being implicated amongst other things in losing his firearm almost a year ago in Mbekweni, Paarl, and using questionable means to retrieve that firearm but there has been no accountability.”
He expressed his appreciation for the committee members for working together as a collective even though they come from various political parties.
“From the committee side, it’s fantastic to see that even though there are many political differences when people walk into the room there is a joint effort to do police oversight. I think if we do it on a senior level and focus more on bettering training.
With the departmental budget allocation and funding of SAPS, qualified police officers leave the police service for greener pastures and better pay which has been raised quite a few times as the police lack resources and special training because of funding.
“That will take time as the committee we cannot do that overnight. In terms of funding, there are serious questions, and a good example is a shortage of detectives specifically in the Western Cape, we have an extreme shortage and severe pressures because normal station detectives are expected to work in very high-risk and dangerous cases despite not being linked to any kind of specialized capacity.”
Budget
“In terms, of the current budget, we have raised questions in the sitting to discuss Wednesday’s budget plan and police report that was done by IPID and Hawks and raised flags about the shortage of funding for more detectives and crime intelligence members. And why there is no funding for the psychological well-being or mental health of police members.
He stressed the level of corruption within the Philippi Police College which has gone undetected.
“A good practical example to understand the challenges of corruption is the Philippi Police Training College for the past six years the college has not been audited and more than 114 million have not been accounted for. The current college commander Colonel Phumlani Hlubi is still in his position and has made derogatory remarks against any oversight capacity including myself. When you take on these individuals, they threaten you with legal action and we have a police college bleeding money while the people in the direct area would benefit from good policing on their doorstep.
Future
Cameron’s hope for the future in the SAPS department as the chairperson is “to restore integrity and the relationship between the public and the police but he says that coming together and working as one is going to take time to see the change will eventually turn things around.” And lastly, he would like to see a decrease in crime, as we are losing 85 people per day in South Africa because we are living in a warzone”, he stated.
VOC News
Photo: X/@IanCameron23
