The Jackie Selebi affair, as a sidebar to the Brett Kebble saga, has exposed South Africa’s ”dark underbelly” and complicated criminal networks, Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Tony Leon said on Wednesday.
Selebi, the police National Commissioner, should be suspended and a commission of inquiry appointed as he refuses to remove himself from office, Leon told a DA conference on victims on crime.
Important questions are whether Selebi has hindered the Kebble murder investigation and if his connection with alleged underworld boss Glenn Agliotti has impaired the police service’s capacity to do its job.
Selebi is under a ”thickening cloud of suspicion” over his links to Agliotti, who was arrested last week in connection with Kebble’s murder, Leon said.
Police morale is taking a ”savage beating”, which is further reason for a commission.
”A number of senior police officials are reportedly desperate for Selebi to stand down, given the damage allegations against him are doing to the image of the police.”
President Thabo Mbeki has been quick to appoint previous commissions of inquiry, such as those on Bulelani Ngcuka and the weakening of the rand. African National Congress chief whip Mbulelo Goniwe was recently suspended pending the outcome of an inquiry.
”Unless he now appoints just such an enquiry to probe the allegations against Selebi, the impression will linger that the president acts only when it is politically expedient for him to do so.”
The government has expressed ”astonishing denialism” over the matter and its ”dawdling” has fuelled a media frenzy, which an inquiry and Selebi’s suspension would stop, Leon said.
South Africa cannot continue ”to fixate on a tawdry made-for-tabloid scandal” that eats away at local and international confidence in the criminal justice system.
Commenting on crime, Leon said violent crime, and particularly murder, is a ”terrible equaliser” with no regard for difference in race, religion or wealth.
”Unless we take urgent action, the swelling tidal wave of lawlessness currently drenching our nation from one end to the other means we will each, at some point, become a victim.”
Steps to address the issue include the strengthening of metropolitan police forces instead of placing them under the national commissioner’s control.
Government’s target of 150 000 active police officers should be met, more recruiting and training of detectives is needed and a better information-sharing network should be created.
Leon said a DA proposal for a specialised South African Police Service rural safety division could fill the vacuum left by the disbanding of the commandos and protect rural residents.
Data on local crime trends should be available at police stations and national statistics released quarterly. — Sapa