SAPS 'doesn't have the skills'

2008-09-04 21:17

Cape Town - The Democratic Alliance on Thursday raised concerns over the SA Police Service's ability to undertake complex investigations in the event of the Scorpions being disbanded.

DA spokesperson Dianne Kohler Barnard said previous assurances by the Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula that police were equipped with tools to undertake complex investigations were misleading.

"These assurances by the Minister ring hollow when viewed against a reply to a DA parliamentary question, which states that only 121 members of the... SAPS have completed the new five-week organised crime course which began more than one year ago," she said.

Little tertiary education

Furthermore, the SAPS' own figures show that only 17% of staff belonging to organised crime, serious economic offences and commercial branch units had tertiary qualifications.

"The Directorate of Special Operations (Scorpions)'s successful record is a direct result of having highly skilled and qualified staff working on complex cases.

"While no one denies that the SAPS has some capacity to investigate organised crime, the available figures from SAPS about the quality and extent of this capacity are far from reassuring," Kohler Barnard said.

She called on Nqakula to prove to South Africans that the SAPS would be able to do the work currently being done by the Scorpions.

"The DA will be submitting further parliamentary questions to determine the capacity of the SAPS organised and economic crime fighting units," she said.

- SAPA