Masemola reinstated

Joining me on the line now is Professor Mpo Matlala, the security and law enforcement expert.

Mpo, a very good morning and welcome to the show.

Good morning to you and thank you for hearing me and good morning to the listeners.

No doubt when he was suspended, there were questions of stability of leadership within the South African police services.

We have seen since his suspension, the Deputy National Commissioner Sibiya being dismissed.

General Mukwana's statement of July last year.

And so the big issue here is that General Masomola has got to start... building public trust and repair the brand of the SAPS and among other things he has got to make sure that as quick as possible that the recommendations of institutions like IP recommendations that are outstanding are implemented and we expect proper leadership and stewardship from him.

In fact, I suspect that what preoccupied the president's mind when he was reinstating General Masemola was to restore stability within the SAPS because right now the SAPS is unstable at leadership level.

That building of trust is going to take a massive effort without a doubt.

I mean, we have scores of South Africans hooked onto the Madanga Commission and almost on a daily basis, there's yet another revelation that makes us all feel slightly despondent when it comes to crime fighting in South Africa.

The statement of General Massimo, I think, is just to restore stability for now.

I really don't think that it can take five months, and I think this is just an interim arrangement.

Probably, I doubt if he'll get a second term.

uh moving into 2037 because um the withdrawal of charges does not mean he cannot face disciplinary you know because he failed in the in stewardship and probably this was just to avoid a big uh hoo-ha between the police commissioner and the president, you know, because the murderous fight, if he's fired now and he's left with five months and they run to court, that does not help the situation.

So rather have him finish the next five months, but in the interim for that five months, probably that will give the SAPS and the political principalship to come up with a very solid plan.

Well, that is what I would do, you know, come up, use the five months to come up with a very solid plan on how do we regain public trust.

I mean, we can theorize around how to build public trust.

uh all we all we want and the lip situation we know what is to be done but south africa presents unique modalities and sometimes not all of theories applicable you know to unique situations and uh here we're not like a any other country probably in the west or out there we carry with us a political history that is not so pleasant that has the police at the center of it and the public has not been debriefed from that and wounds have not healed and now we are seeing this so it's not just going to be a theoretical plan a simplistic plan we need a deep nose dive you know, to get into the real problems of South Africa, the real problems of South Africans.

How do we then navigate this ship to bring it afloat and build the public trust that is required? Remember, dealing with systemic challenges It's not a child's play, especially in an institution as huge as the SAPS.

I mean, you even have to look at simple things like when you call the 10-1-1 center, the telephone etiquette, when you walk into a police station, charge office, the level of disrespect.

Nobody's saying good morning, say good morning, ma'am, how may I assist you? I mean, you walk into some police stations and you get somebody who says, yeah, what do you want? So even the smallest of things, we need to really, really look at them.

And I think the SAPS may have to get in brand image experts to assist them.

And they come at a cost, exorbitant cost these days, especially when they are dealing with the state.

So yeah, there is a mountain to climb, but yeah, it's not impossible to actually summit that mountain.