More than 50 TMPD officers facing axe for graft

Nkwashu was among metro police management from all three of Gauteng’s metropolitan municipalities making presentations to the committee on community safety in the provincial legislature on Tuesday.

Tshwane issued a directive earlier this month that authorises members of the public to record encounters with officers behaving suspiciously or abusing their authority after recording an increasing number of complaints.

“If people say metro police are abusing them, if there’s an audio, we will be able to see who the culprit is. If it is our members, we will take action. I can assure you that in the next two months, more than 50 of our members will be dismissed for corruption,” the acting chief said.

The gathering, which took place in Melrose, was steered by committee chairperson Bandile Masuku.

He expressed concern over the apparent lack of coordination between the South African police, the Tshwane, Ekurhuleni and Johannesburg metro police departments, and private security companies in combatting crime.

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Tshwane has a fleet of more than 750 vehicles, and of those 61 are leased. According to the metro, there are just 450 functional, while 311 are out of service for various reasons.

In Ekurhuleni 291 vehicles out of 1 527, including support services, were in for repairs with an estimated turnaround time of 12 months.

Acting EMPD head Goodman Mzolo said there have been no financial provisions made, even in the new financial year, for a new fleet.

“When we go to service delivery protests, we can’t use soft vehicles. So, we find ourselves using soft vehicles and not armored vehicles. We are running short on armored vehicles. We have nine and the wear and tear play a role.”

Mzolo added that the safety of officers has also been compromised by budgetary constraints that resulted in the failure to procure bulletproof vests.

Masuku said there need to be better efforts between the relevant government departments to address operational challenges faced by officers, especially when coming to the management of resources.

“We can’t have law enforcement officers who are not satisfied and not protected. So, for me it was disappointing and it’s something that we will work on and put pressure on them to provide those.

“The issue of cars is generally a big problem even in the SAPS. There should be a way this can be resolved,” Masuku said.

Meanwhile, provincial police commissioner Elias Mawela said the different law enforcement authorities need to be more critical of themselves. 

He raised the long-envisioned integrated command centre that has failed to materialise as a necessity that will assist in ensuring coordinated efforts in the fight against crime in Gauteng.

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