PEOPLE serving in community policing forums must be thoroughly vetted and cleared of any criminal record before they are allowed to perform any duties, ANC MP Mogodu Samuel Moela has warned.
“Before they can execute any job, they must make sure that they are thoroughly vetted and there is no one who has a criminal record,” he said.
Moela was speaking in Parliament on Thursday, 8 October, after revealing that people are being allowed to participate in community policing forums before their criminal records are even established.
“There are instances where you find that people who are supposed to be dealing with the policing forum engage in these matters even before they can be vetted, or even before they know if this particular individual has a criminal record,” he said.
The revelation came as the Civilian Secretariat for Police Service (CSPS) admitted it needs to strengthen the screening of community policing forum (CPF) members.
The CSPS told Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Police that 14 of 54 CPFs assessed were not functional. The picture was similarly dire for community safety forums, with 7 of 9 assessed found non-functional.
But the bigger concern raised by MPs was not that these structures are failing, it was that people can become involved in them without being properly screened first.
CSPS director-general Thulani Sibuyi acknowledged the weakness and said the department would have to tighten the system.
“We will have to just look at strengthening that aspect, so that all the members of the CPFs, before they start operating as members of the CPF, meet the integrity threshold, including issues around the criminal record,” he said.
The admission raises questions about the controls around community structures that are meant to work alongside police in the fight against crime.
Deputy Police Minister Polly Boshielo said government is also considering stipends for CPF members, arguing they need to be properly supported and trained.
“The discussions are going on in terms of funding them, a stipend or what should we do, so that they are committed, but also trained enough so that they are not hurt in the process, and the state will be liable,” she said.
Boshielo said SAPS cannot fight crime alone.
“They should be our ambassadors, and they’re doing a great job,” she said, pointing to Gauteng’s Amapanyaza street wardens as a possible model.
But she warned the problems run deeper at provincial level.
“If you can make an audit of the civilian secretariat at the provincial level, you’ll just cry,” she said.
The CSPS plans to audit which municipalities need community safety forums established, once local government elections are over.
