South Africa September 2005 |
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| “Misleading” to assume all police are corrupt, (SABC News, 2005-09-07):-Assuming that police officers throughout the country were extorting money from illegal immigrants was dangerous and misleading, police said today in response to calls for action after a televised exposé of officers taking bribes. In a Special Assignment probe, police at Booysens Police Station, Johannesburg, were shown taken money to free illegal immigrants being held in custody - allegedly a widespread practice in the city. A proper investigation into the alleged corruption at Booysens would inform the action the police would take, said Phuti Setati, the national police spokesperson. Concluding that extortion was happening everywhere would create "the wrong perception altogether," he said. Appeal to public - However, he did appeal to the public to help the police in eradicating corruption wherever and whenever it did raise its head - instead of waiting for television exposés. "People who see these things happening. People who hear these things happening. People who witness these things happening. It is high time people stand up and say: 'If I see something wrong happening, I must alert the police,' so we can attend to it swiftly," said Setati. Even vulnerable people, such as illegal immigrants, could report corruption through Crime Stop on 08600-10111. The police would ensure they did not endanger the lives of people who gave them information, he said. Perumal Naidoo, the Gauteng police commissioner, was still refusing to say a word about the footage today, after reportedly storming out of the SABC studios in outrage after viewing the tape. Firoz Cachalia, the Gauteng community safety MEC, who was out of town, had not yet seen the footage, and did not know the substance of the allegations against the police, said Phumla Mthala, his spokesperson. "He therefore cannot comment comprehensively on this issue," she said. Cachalia had, however, communicated to her that his attitude toward corruption was one of zero-tolerance. If the allegations were proven to be true, he would expect "swift action" from police leadership, she said. The Democratic Alliance (DA) has, meanwhile, called for a province-wide probe into crooked officers. Call for immediate suspension - Criticising Naidoo's refusal to comment and his apparent failure to take any action against the officers involved as "not good enough", John Moodey, the DA safety spokesperson, said he needed to act and the public needed to see that he was acting. "As a first step we suggest the officers caught on camera should be immediately suspended pending an investigation and so should the Station Commissioner," he said. "The subject is now in the public domain and the investigations cannot happen behind closed doors. Naidoo must start to rebuild confidence in the South African Police Service in Gauteng." Moodey said reports abounded of police targeting immigrants, both legal and illegal, to extort bribes. "With this new evidence before us the Commissioner (Naidoo) can no longer keep quiet or hope that it will go away. Neither should he confine his action to those officers caught on camera. "He should launch an immediate and sweeping investigation of possible bribery by cops across Gauteng. Only then can the public be assured that we are guarded by the good guys rather than by crooks," Moodey said. | |
South African Migration Project (SAMP) - Queen's University - http://www.queensu.ca/samp |