Some 4,174 police officers convicted of assault, theft, kidnapping and fraud are serving in South Africa’s police service, Police Minister Bheki Cele has admitted in Parliament.
Replying to a parliamentary question in the House on Monday, Cele said that among the crooked cops were 32 senior managers convicted of fraud, public violence and assault.
The minister said among the rank and file of the service were police officers convicted for assault, theft, kidnapping and murder.
However, Cele did not comment specifically of convicted murderers who are cops in the rank and file but their existence emerged in the statistical tables attached to his written response.
Cele declined to name the affected officers.
“The SAPS is not in a position to provide the information, since it contains personal information relating to the members concerned and the disclosure will constitute an unreasonable violation of privacy,” the minister, a former national police chief himself, said.
Cele was responding to parliamentary questions from opposition Democratic Alliance MP Dianne Kohler Barnard who asked the minister about the number of employees at senior management level who had criminal records in the South African Police Service.
NM/as/APA