One thousand cops have been arrested for crime since 2010.
Police said on Saturday that they were not aware of an alleged list containing the names of police officials, including Lieutenant General Layton Mzondeki "Sean" Tshabalala who died this week, who were apparently mistreated.
"We obviously are not aware of this list that is being referred to," national police spokesperson Lieutenant General Solomon Makgale told Sapa.
Makgale was responding to tweets by Selby Bokaba from the funeral service of Tshabalala.
Bokaba, the City of Tshwane spokesperson, tweeted that former national police commissioner Bheki Cele had told mourners at Tshabalala's funeral in Randburg that there was a list of police who had been badly-treated.
"#Walter Sisulu Hall in Randburg is stunned by Bheki Cele's revelation. Why was Sean on the list of targeted people in the police? asks Cele," read one of Bokaba's tweets.
"Tshabalala's name is number 1 on the list of 18 other former MK [Umkhonto weSizwe] colleagues and current Saps [South African Police Service] colleagues," Bokaba tweeted on Cele's speech.
Body found in office
In a further tweet, Bokaba reported that Cele claimed Tshabalala had documented his mistreatment: "#Bheki Cele now reading out #Sean Tshabalala's document expressing his ill-treatment in the Saps. The hall claps".
Bokaba said he was attending the funeral as he had previously worked with Tshabalala.
Asked by Sapa whether he had made the comments about the list, Cele said: "I did speak about that".
However, he said his comment on the matter "ends there".
A police investigation has been launched into the death of Tshabalala, who had been the police inspectorate's divisional commissioner, after his body was found in his office at police headquarters in Pretoria on Tuesday. – Sapa