The African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) is shocked by the announcement that the South African Police Service intends to halve the number of white police officers.
”At a time when crime is so rife, it is shocking that the force is focusing its attention on white-black personnel ratios, instead of providing solutions for the crisis, ACDP leader Reverend Kenneth Meshoe said on Friday.
He said the SAPS’s intention was to change the white to black ratio from 1:5 to 1:10 over the next three years.
Meshoe said police failures had consistently been linked to a lack of resources and manpower.
”Encouraging a further exodus of skilled and experienced personnel is, therefore, short-sighted and highly irresponsible.”
Meshoe said the interests of South Africans would be far better served by urgent attention to the ratio of police officers per community. He said the government should provide clarity regarding the impact this would have on the SAPS’s zudget ”because it will have to offer severance packages to these white policemen”.
”We must be reassured that the lack of capacity to adequately address the crime crisis will not be further impeded by reckless budgetary decisions,” said Meshoe.
The police, however, denied having made such an announcement.
Spokesperson Director Sally de Beer said: ”Police top management outright rejects rumours that the SAPS intends reducing the number of white police officials through offering them severance packages”.
She said the national police commissioner [Jackie Selebi] had emphasised the need to retain skills and expertise in the police service.
”These rumours are untrue and without foundation. In fact, we are in the process of recruiting and training thousands of police officials of all races for deployment throughout the country,” she said. – Sapa