A parliamentary inquiry into systemic corruption within the South African Police Service (SAPS) was rocked on Tuesday by explosive testimony alleging that National Police Commissioner, General Fannie Masemola, has deliberately ignored and suppressed detailed reports of high-level criminality from within his own ranks.
Three senior officers, testifying under oath before Parliament’s Ad Hoc Committee, painted a picture of a commissioner’s office that functions not as a pillar of accountability, but as a dead end for whistleblowers. Their allegations suggest that serious crimes, including the theft of drug evidence and the manipulation of senior appointments, have been systematically covered up by a chain of command unwilling to confront internal rot.
The Allegations: From Stolen Drugs to Rigged Promotions
The officers, whose identities were obscured by parliamentary screens and voice modulation to protect them from reprisal, presented a catalog of malfeasance they had personally documented and escalated.
- The Vanishing Evidence: A senior detective from the Forensic Science Laboratory detailed how multiple internal reports concerning significant discrepancies in narcotics evidence had been submitted. He alleged that large quantities of seized cocaine and mandrax had been tampered with or had disappeared from secured vaults. “We followed protocol. We filed the reports through the proper channels, right up to the Office of the National Commissioner,” the witness stated. “The response was silence. Then, those of us who signed the reports were transferred to distant stations or subjected to frivolous disciplinary hearings.”
- Jobs for Sale: A human resources colonel within the SAPS testified about the alleged manipulation of promotion and appointment processes. He presented committee members with dossiers he claimed showed how certain high-ranking positions were “pre-determined” for candidates with political connections or who were willing to pay bribes, despite being less qualified than other applicants. “I took this evidence to the Commissioner’s office, believing he would want to clean house,” the colonel said. “Instead, I was told to ‘let it go’ and focus on my administrative duties. The implicated individuals were promoted.”
- A Culture of Intimidation: A third officer, a major-general, spoke of a pervasive climate of fear. “To report wrongdoing is to sign your own professional death warrant,” he testified. “The system does not protect you; it isolates you. We are not dealing with a few bad apples, but with a network that is protected from the very top. When the National Commissioner ignores signed, documented reports from his own generals, what message does that send? It tells every crooked colonel and captain that they are untouchable.”
The Committee’s Stance: Demanding Answers from the Top
The Ad Hoc Committee’s chairperson expressed profound concern, stating that the testimony pointed to a critical failure of leadership at the very apex of the SAPS. “If true, these allegations suggest that the mechanisms designed to ensure police accountability are being deliberately disabled,” the chairperson said. “The Committee will now be left with no choice but to recall National Commissioner Masemola to appear before us. He must answer, under oath, why these reports were ignored and what actions, if any, he took.”
Legal advisors to the committee noted that if Commissioner Masemola was found to have willfully neglected his duty to address serious criminal allegations, it could constitute misconduct and potentially pave the way for impeachment proceedings.
A Force in Crisis: Public Trust Erodes Further
The scandal erupts at a time of intense public scrutiny over police effectiveness and integrity. High-profile cases of criminal syndicates operating within the SAPS have shattered citizen confidence. These latest claims reinforce the dangerous perception that the force is plagued by a “two-tier” system: one set of rules for connected insiders, and another for both honest officers and the public they are sworn to protect.
Police ministry spokespersons have previously stated that all allegations are investigated through appropriate internal structures. However, the detailed, firsthand nature of this testimony challenges that assertion directly.
What Comes Next: A Reckoning or More Silence?
The parliamentary committee has given Commissioner Masemola a strict deadline to respond to the specific allegations in writing. His subsequent live testimony, expected in the coming weeks, is now one of the most anticipated events in South Africa’s ongoing struggle against state corruption.
Will it trigger a genuine house-cleaning within the SAPS, or will it become another chapter in a long story of impunity? For the three officers who risked everything to testify, and for a nation weary of crime and decay, the answer will be a definitive measure of whether the country’s most powerful law enforcement institution is capable of policing itself.
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