Police leadership stabilised - Phahlane

2 September 2016

Cape Town - The South African Police Service has brought its leadership crisis under control by ensuring permanent provincial commissioners and cluster commanders are in place, Parliament's portfolio committee on police heard on Friday.

"And all we expect from them is that they focus on the fight against crime," said acting national police commissioner Lieutenant General Khomotso Phahlane.

This followed a tumultuous period when some provincial commissioners had got into trouble for supporting suspended police commissioner Riah Phiyega, among other issues.

He said more resources had been given to police stations, more mobile units were being used, and intelligence services had been beefed up.

"It's not everybody in society who is a criminal, it is a fraction of people that harbour criminality in their minds," Phahlane said.Crime in Limpopo may have gained momentum due to service delivery protests, the torching of schools in Vuwani, and mining strikes at Northam and Mokopane."Limpopo, to some extent, is an entry point of those that are coming to visit us in numbers. It remains a situation we are looking at, but at this stage we have our finger on the pulse."ANC MP Angelinah Molebatsi said the appointment of Phahlane, and the support he had received, had brought huge changes. Phiyega is suspended pending an inquiry into her fitness to hold office.

This article first appeared on News24, see here.