The precautionary suspension of SA’s national police commissioner Gen Fannie Masemola is another low point indicating the worsening paralysis in the top police leadership.
It follows his court appearance to face criminal charges linked to an irregular SA Police Service (SAPS) tender running into millions awarded to Vusumusi “Cat” Matlala’s company, Medicare24.
This is a staggering embarrassment and a profound institutional failure that symbolises the erosion of ethical management at the core of police management.
The national police service is effectively leaderless. Police minister Senzo Mchunu is suspended over allegations of political interference.
Masemola is suspended, facing allegations of financial mismanagement, leaving the country with an acting commissioner, Lt-Gen Puleng Dimpane.
Shadrack Sibiya, SAPS second-in-command, is also suspended amid corruption allegations.
As a result, the police service is being run on a temporary, caretaking basis by acting officials.
Caretakers do not reform institutions but manage risk.
They avoid bold decisions, long-term planning and deep clean-ups because their authority is temporary.
There is another national deputy commissioner Tebello Mosikili, who was acting national police commissioner when then-minister Mchunu issued the surprise directive to disband the Political Killings Task Team (PKTT) on that fateful New Year’s Eve of December 31 2024. Though not suspended, she is the subject of an Independent Police Investigative Directorate investigation which, if charges follow, means she too will have to leave office.
It is clear we are dealing with a systemic failure of police leadership at the very top, the collapse of the command nerve centre of national policing itself.
South Africans have seen many national police commissioners leave office under clouds of scandal.
Each suspension deepens the sense that failure at the top has been absorbed into the system as normal.
All this happens at a time when violent crime, organised criminal networks and police mistrust are at crisis levels.
A police service cannot fight crime effectively when its leadership is so compromised, serving suspensions and perpetually on trial, either in courts, commissions of inquiry or the court of public opinion.
This country is under a serious dark cloud.
What makes Masemola’s suspension particularly damning is that he becomes the third serving national police commissioner to face criminal charges.
He follows the late Jackie Selebi, who was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison for corruption, and Khomotso Phahlane, who was officially dismissed from the SAPS after an internal disciplinary hearing found him guilty of dishonest conduct. Even more troubling is the historical pattern.
In democratic South Africa, only one national police commissioner, George Fivaz, completed a full five-year term, way back during Nelson Mandela’s inaugural presidency.
Since then, every commissioner has left office before finishing their term, often under a cloud of controversy.
This constant revolving door at the top of the police service has weakened SAPS from the inside.
Career police officers are expected to fight crime every day, yet many are doing so while watching their own leaders become entangled in allegations of misconduct or corruption.
Over time, this erodes morale, discipline and trust in the institution they are meant to serve.
Clearly the crisis at the top of SAPS has reached a breaking point.
Our country cannot afford a police service that is drifting without firm, credible direction.
What is at stake is not only police leadership, but public trust and the ability of the state to maintain law and order.
Fixing this will require more than temporary appointments and quiet reshuffles.
It calls for decisive action to reset the leadership culture within the SAPS.
Dickson is a media professional and commentator on African affairs.
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