Pretoria – In a shakeup of police leadership, National Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega has announced plans to restructure the South African Police Service top ranks and has appointed new deputy national commissioners.
General Khehla Sithole, who joined the police in 1986, has been appointed Deputy National Commissioner responsible for policing; General Stefanus Schutte will be the Deputy Commissioner responsible for finance and administration with the third deputy commissioner, General Nobubele Mbekela, to head the corporate services division.
In addition, Phiyega announced on Saturday that she had appointed Major General Mondli Zuma as the new Provincial Commissioner for Gauteng. The position was held by Lieutenant General Mzwandile Petros whose contract comes to an end today. The appointment has since been withdrawn.
“I congratulate the new leaders who have been promoted and others who have taken on new responsibilities. I wish to also take this opportunity to thank Lieutenant General Petros for being a loyal servant of the service,” said Phiyega.
She had tried to keep him within the service so that his skills are not lost and he had agreed to stay on until the end of the year to focus on a number of special projects.
Tackling misconduct and corruption
Phiyega further announced the introduction of a separate entity to be called integrity management. Its task will be to tackle corruption and misconduct by members of the police service.
She is convinced the changes in the police’s top management will strengthen the service’s leadership. “As we set up this integrity management … we are making sure that charity and self-cleaning takes place within our own organisation,” she said.
One year after being appointed to head the SAPS, the national commissioner told journalists in Pretoria on Saturday that it had been a tough period for her but one that had taught her a lot of things about policing.
Phiyega was appointed Police Commissioner on 12 June 2012 - the first female to occupy the position.
The tragedy of Marikana
A few months after she was appointed, the Marikana tragedy occurred. Thirty-six people were killed, including two policemen, during a mining strike that turned violent in the Marikana informal settlement in August last year.
She said the incident remained a tragedy and had no doubt that South Africans would reflect on it for a very long time to come.
“This tragic event gave me a rapid but thorough understanding of our operational environment. In a way, it hastened my orientation into the police. I have therefore, in a short time span, learnt a lot about the SAPS.”
Regarding questions around her being appointed to lead the SAPS despite not being a career cop, Phiyega said: “After one year, I now know for sure that management of the police is no different from the management of the many organisations I have worked for. The same management principles are involved in the banking sector, parastatals, a mining company or retail store.”
Success areas
She listed specific areas in which she felt she had achieved over the last 12 months, including increasing visible policing, investigative successes by detectives, policing of illicit mining and the recent successes in the fight against the scourge of drugs, particularly in poorer communities.
For the first time in the history of the SAPS, over 600 detective commanders were brought together to deliberate and come up with a ten-point plan.
“Our resolve was that we should continue to tackle crime. Our success rests on two major changes. We will soon begin a process of bringing retired detectives back into the service to assist us. They will also help with mentoring and coaching.”
To turn the SAPS around required robust leadership that is accountable, courageous, receptive to new ideas and visible.
“We need to facilitate a move away from ‘disruptive engagements’ towards ‘nourishing interactions’ that will engender organisational development and success.
“We have to remake SAPS into an effective and focussed organisation. We need a sharp [focus] on crime. We have to develop a strategy and tactics that would prevent and uproot crime rather than react to it.”
She wanted police stations to become a nexus of service delivery. “If we cannot get the police stations right as police, we cannot get our service right.” – SAnews.gov.za
