Global Affairs South Africa: wk #2
In response to the article “War on corruption must first be won within SAPS: SANCO”
by :unstated / Monday 17 April 2017 - 9:19am / eNCA
http://www.enca.com/south-africa/war-on-corruption-must-first-be-won-within-saps-sanco
The national spokesman for South African National Civic Organisation (SANCO), Jabu Mahlangu said in Johannesburg on Sunday. The war against the cancer of corruption and against violent organised crime must first be won within the SAPS or (South African Police Service) before it can be won in communities. This statement was made after a report stating that the Eastern Cape police force were searching for one of their own apparently on the run after allegedly stealing confiscated firearms.
Jabu Mahlangu says in the article that “Nothing less than a major clean-up of the network of greed and its criminal syndicates will restore the credibility and integrity of the SAPS.” Police had to stop “chasing shadows and go after criminals that are camouflaged with police uniform”. And also says, “Ridding the police service of those who are running with the hares and hunting with the hounds will restore the confidence of our communities in policing.”
Police in Dimbaza near King William’s Town conducting raids, confiscated the illegal firearms that were going to be tested forensically at the SAPS forensic unit in Port Elizabeth. Now the firearms are missing along with the constable who had been placed in charge of them.
Responses to this article vary, some readers claiming corruption can’t be thwarted when the very President of SA is showing that it can be done and gotten away with. Another says that SANCO is right, we can’t deal with Zuma right now, but we can focus on the communities we live in and the forces paid to protect them. While another says that the problem lies with us, that we are conspiring to support corruption when we bribe our way out of immediate consequences after being pulled over on the road. The reader says “If we do not pay, there will be immediate personal consequences (which is why we do) but, at the end of the day, we will change the internal culture of the police etc.”
For me, I think the SANCO national spokesman has a good point, when talking about the community. If we were addressing South Africa as a whole, that would be a different story. We need to start somewhere and the very people who are sworn to protect and to serve the citizen, the community, need to be trustworthy to do just that. But I disagree with Mahlangu at the same time, in that we all have a responsibility to fight for the future we long for our children and grandchildren. Even if others are working so hard to destroy it, and huge injustices are taking place, the community, the family unit can still play a large role in fighting the cancer of corruption. I think the point about bribes is a good one. When we offer bribes we are agreeing with corruption and we say "Make an exception." The law is the law, and we should not encourage the law to be taken lightly. Speeding also has consequences and can cause deaths, just like guns. Cars used without proper restraint can become killing machines, and laws, and their consequences, need to be respected.
