Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Police has visited the Philippi Training Academy in the City of Cape Town after allegations of mismanagement, criminal activity, corruption, and leadership failures that threaten the effectiveness of the academy and, consequently, the future of policing in South Africa.
The Chairperson of the committee, Ian Cameron, said the challenges facing the South African Police Service (SAPS) are no secret, but the issues raised about the academy specifically paint a troubling picture of systemic failures that demand immediate attention. He said the issues are reflective of broader problems in the training of police officers and the overall quality of policing services being delivered to our communities.
Since mid-2018, under the current leadership of the Philippi Training Academy, over R114 million has been allocated to the academy and that includes more than R100 million allocated for meals for basic training of students, R8 million for meals for qualified police officers undergoing in-service training, and R6 million reportedly generated in profits from the academy’s tuck shop.
Despite these significant large amounts of money, there have been, allegedly, no financial audits conducted for the past six years at the academy. This lack of oversight raises serious concerns, particularly in light of ongoing reports of alleged corruption and financial mismanagement at the academy, the Committee said.
The committee received updates on a host of investigations that included rape of female police trainees, claims of the sale of drugs within the academy, claims of renting of SAPS equipment to the public, alleged stealing of three SAPS issued pistol magazines by a police sergeant, and mismanagement of the academy by the SAPS.
During the engagements, the committee highlighted a culture of cover-up of clear indications of criminality at the academy and the inevitability of the delayed launch of investigations of most suspected criminal acts. Furthermore, the committee demanded a concrete and convincing explanation on the lack of timeframes in all the investigations that are underway at the academy, investigations on matters the committee described as extremely serious.
The committee expressed serious concern over the poor quality of the recruitment criteria which regard psychometric testing, among other things, as optional and the trainer trainee ratio of up to 500 recruits per trainer. The committee told SAPS management that no capable and reliable police graduate can be delivered from that formula. The committee described that as a formula of death of the future of policing in South Africa which SAPS management should feel ashamed about.
The committee told SAPS management that it is going back to the academy in six weeks’ time for a progress update and for further engagements on all the investigations and other issues that were not dealt with because of time limitations. The committee also embarked on a walkabout to assess the physical condition of the facilities and conditions under which police trainees live.
