Criminal justice system rot so deep it maybe unstoppable
The rot is so ingrained it is difficult to believe that any government will be able to eliminate, or even reduce it.
We’ve all suspected it for a long time: Many of our cops – those supposed to protect us from crime – are criminals themselves.
But now, the revelations emerging almost every day in various forums are proving those suspicions to be not only correct, but possibly also an underestimation of how our criminal justice system has been perverted.
KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi had obviously had enough when he made his shocking allegations a few months ago that top cops and senior politicians were part of a network of criminal mafias.
Now, a retired senior cop has lifted the lid on the outrageous state of affairs at the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department (EMPD), where more than 300 officers have criminal records or are awaiting trial for serious offences.
Retired EMPD deputy chief Revo Spies told the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry yesterday that the criminal connections had emerged when he tried to carry out a vetting process of EMPD employees.
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At every stage of his attempt – which consisted primarily of taking fingerprints of individuals and cross-checking them on the national criminal database – he was white-anted by deputy chief Julius Mkhwanazi, who was later suspended.
Even worse, when the vetting was completed, Spies was forced to hand over the information to the department’s human resources section, which buried it.
And therein lies the real reason why crime is rampant and why our country is truly a gangster’s paradise: The web of evil spreads far and wide throughout the national police service, as well as municipal departments.
Cops and even civilian employees work with each other to cover up crime, lose dockets and derail the progress of justice.
The rot is so ingrained it is difficult to believe that any government will be able to eliminate, or even reduce it.
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