1,500 South Africa police have criminal records

osted by: AFP Posted date : July 28, 2013 at 4:05 pm 15 views In: Africa

JOHANNESBURG, Gauteng (AFP)

Almost 1,500 of South Africa’s police officers have themselves committed crimes in a nation where security forces are notorious for brutality and corruption, according to an audit released Sunday.

“The audit established that 1,448 members have criminal offences,” Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa announced in a statement.

The two-year-long audit into the South African Police Service’s (SAPS) 157,500 members found “serious challenges” in managing police discipline.

The service will now launch a review into the offences, to be completed by October, said Mthethwa.

Main opposition party the Democratic Alliance demanded that all police workers with criminals records “be dismissed with immediate effect.”

“All members of the SAPS, including those within its leadership, should be professional police officers who protect South Africans from criminals, they should not and cannot be criminals themselves,” said the party’s shadow police minister Dianne Kohler Barnard in a statement.

FULL STORY: http://en.starafrica.com/news/1500-south-africa-police-have-crimina...