JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's security ministry said on Thursday it was investigating six members of an elite protection unit for murder or attempted murder, a new embarrassment for police accused of graft and incompetence.
Safety and Security Ministry spokesman Hangwani Mulaudzi said the investigations of members of the VIP protection force were being treated very seriously, but none of the accused were in custody and no charges had been brought.
Three are accused of murder and three of attempted murder.
Mulaudzi said 40 other officers were under investigation for offences ranging from assault to reckless driving. The force protects South Africa's president and other VIPs. Its two branches have a total strength of just over 3,300.
"We are very much concerned that members of an elite unit are involved in serious crimes," Mulaudzi said, pointing out that the accusations were from a period of four years.
"Equally so, we are happy that the same members were (caught) by their own colleagues, which is indicative of the zero tolerance that the SAPS (South African Police Service) boasts to rid itself of its bad elements," he said.
The details first emerged in response to a parliamentary question by the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA), which said the data "illustrates how a rudderless police service has lost all ability to hold police units to account" (see here).
The Star newspaper published news of the investigations under the front-page headline "The VIP unit from hell". South African radio stations also broadcast prominent coverage of the case.
The opposition DA called for immediate action.
"Officers committing serious criminal offences must be removed from the SAPS without delay, and the DA reiterates its call for the introduction of a new code of conduct for the VIP unit, to assist in holding its officers to rigorous standards," it said.
Mulaudzi stressed that all those accused were innocent until proven guilty.
South Africa, the continent's biggest economy, suffers from one of the highest murder rates in the world. Rapes and carjackings are common. South Africa wants to prove it can make the streets safe before the 2010 soccer World Cup.
But the police have faced repeated embarrassment.
South Africa's suspended police chief, Jackie Selebi, will stand trial this year on corruption, fraud and other charges in a case tied to his relationship with a convicted drug smuggler.
The VIP unit had itself sparked a public outcry after it was accused of bullying motorists in high-profile cases. Police spokeswoman Sally de Beer said SAPS management is dealing with complaints over VIP motorcades.
The government of former President Thabo Mbeki, ousted last year, blamed South Africa's high rates of violent crime on poverty and other problems that it said were holdovers from the apartheid era, which ended in 1994.
