South Africa will have a permanent national police commissioner by the end of July, Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa told MPs on Wednesday.
Opening debate on his budget vote in the National Assembly, he said the new appointee would have their work cut out for them, but did not provide any further detail on who the new permanent commissioner would be.
”We will within a month have a permanent national commissioner… who will certainly have his or her work cut out [for them] to ensure accountability, coordination, and consistent and effective communication,” he said.
Mthethwa made no reference to the current police national commissioner Jackie Selebi, who had been on special leave since 2007, and faced two charges of corruption and one of defeating the ends of justice, relating to his friendship with convicted drug trafficker Glenn Agliotti.
According to media reports on Wednesday, President Jacob Zuma had written to Selebi, telling him his contract would not be renewed past the end of July.
Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Diane Kohler Barnard said having kept Selebi on full pay for nearly two years after he was charged with corruption was a disgrace.
She criticised Mthethwa for honouring Selebi’s contract for another month before naming a new commissioner as it meant the taxpayer would have to pay his salary of R93Â 000 for July.
”We don’t need dithering here — just a clear explanation of why you’ve kept him on for another month past the expiration of his contract, on top of paying him nearly R2-million to sit at home,” she said.
”A top priority should be to appoint a new commissioner.”
The budget debate came just hours after acting national police commissioner Tim Williams was given a tongue-lashing by the chairperson of Parliament’s public accounts committee (Scopa) for failing to provide strong leadership and improve police services.
”When we talk about service delivery we talk about action … If you lead and you cannot make a difference, you have no business leading,” chairperson Themba Godi said. — Sapa