Thirty years after he was appointed directly by then President Nelson Mandela as the first National Commissioner of a new SA Police Service in 1995 – to forge a single service from 11 apartheid-era agencies – retired General George Fivaz this week said policing had to again be fundamentally transformed in South Africa.

Directing his appeal at President Cyril Ramaphosa, Minister of Police Senzo Mchunu and the Government of National Unity (GNU), Fivaz said policing was again in deep crisis within a society which had still not normalised its relationship with law enforcement.

All sectors of South African society – including Government, the general public and civil society, were clearly deeply dissatisfied and mistrustful of the SA Police Service in a situation shockingly reminiscent of the state of policing in the pre-1994 apartheid era, he told ProtectionWeb.

Only a multi-sectoral national convention and discourse such as that recently proposed by former President Thabo Mbeki would be able to effectively assess and address the direction and form policing should now take through restructuring and redirection, he added.

“The situation has come full circle from the democratic policing dispensation introduced in 1995 by President Mandela’s administration into something which too often reminds of the apartheid era and in which the Police do what they like, forgetting they must support and enforce the Constitution.

“It is a warning sign that the public now hates the police and does not want to deal with them. There are high levels of aggression in our communities and people are again very angry and frustrated at the Police, who seem only able to respond with counter-aggression and not cohesive policing policy and practices.

“I get a real sense of growing animosity towards the Police and quite frankly, too few people say they are smart or intelligent. This is igniting a classic cycle of violence with power struggle dynamics that the SAPS is supposed to defuse but is seemingly helpless to prevent,” said Fivaz.

Fivaz said the GNU was in a good position to mobilise the moral authority and societal support any SAPS restructuring and redirection would require to be successful, but any such process would have to be targeted to ensure the correct focus areas were addressed.

Whilst conceding from past experience that change was more easily said than done, Fivaz noted that the political and social climate in South Africa was conducive to decisive change in policing and that advances in policing technology also presented an ideal opportunity for change within the SAPS.

Policing fundamentals need to be addressed along with creating a revitalised policing ethos the police themselves and the public/civil society could commit to in support of Constitutional Policing.

Fivaz pointed to the strategic process utilising Change Management Teams on all aspects of policing to identify and redirect the then 11 existing policing agencies in South Africa in 1994 (including former apartheid Bantustan police forces).

“The existing sad tales of woe playing out daily in numerous areas of policing are having a negative impact, not only on the broad community that should support policemen and women, but also very negative on the morale and self-esteem of those many good and dedicated police officers,” Fivaz said.

“It all starts with discipline and accountability and too many Police officials do not seem to realise we are living in a Constitutional democracy and that’s why the SAPS must be revamped and redirected all over again.”

“The political climate in South Africa is now much better than six months ago and I am picking up that the GNU is not at all happy with the performance of the SAPS – the full support of Government is vital for any restructuring process and so the right time is now,” said Fivaz.

The post GNU must totally re-engineer, restructure and redirect SAPS – Fivaz appeared first on ProtectionWeb.

A year on, ProtectionWeb interviewed Fivaz on the unprecedented intervention, which shook government, rudely awakening a country and slumbering intelligence agencies in full denial of the pivotal role of business intelligence operations.

But Fivaz believes the tide has not yet turned against corruption at South Africa’s SOEs, mainly because official security agencies fail to utilise extensive private intelligence capabilities.

“Andre de Ruyter looked at me and said – this could be the last chance to save Eskom and South Africa – do it!”

These words in December 2021 triggered a unique private intelligence operation – initially ignoring state law enforcement and intelligence agencies, yet ultimately providing proof-of-concept for business-driven private intelligence.

Fivaz and his George Fivaz Forensic & Risk outfit launched the operation against four major crime cartels – penetrating criminal leadership, identifying operational black sites and ultimately disrupting by mobilising National Defence Force and private security resources.

The stakes could not have been higher, with a paralysed Eskom in danger of a criminal take-over – taking South Africa with it whilst official agencies dithered.

De Ruyter was also personally targeted by cartel hit-squad surveillance and a poisoning attempt well into the project.

Fivaz put the ultra-secret private intelligence operation into motion after accessing funding from Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) and other businesses.

“It had a liberating effect on Eskom top management  – and ultimately freed them from direct cartel intimidation and even control – it restored freedom of action and gave a fighting chance,” Fivaz told ProtectionWeb.

He added that criminal cartels operated with complete impunity with a hit-squad to take out internal critics standing in the way of wholesale plundering at the utility.

“The situation remains grave at Eskom in my view as with almost all other SOEs, but our operation gave Eskom management space to launch a fight-back – which our current Minister of Electricity is fully exploiting to keep the lights on,” said Fivaz.

The first National Commissioner of SAPS, appointed by President Nelson Mandela, Fivaz played a central role – long since forgotten by formal agencies – in crushing an upsurge in post 1994 Cash in Transit robberies and establishing Business Against Crime (BAC).

He rejects that only government can conduct intelligence operations against crime, citing not only Eskom but highly successful business/police intelligence operations whilst SAPS chief (1995-2000).

“The Eskom project was a huge leap in the right direction, even though state security agencies still believe crime information or intelligence is their sole prerogative. But South African crime statistics speak volumes with low crime detection and prosecution rates.”

“The sooner formal security structures realise that private intelligence can vastly improve their performance for the better,” maintained Fivaz.

He said the Eskom project proved that private intelligence and state entities could work together even on complex issues of vital national security.

“A positive yes! BAC developments with Neal Froneman now as chair is motivation for my opinion but it remains an effort to obtain the support of the private sector to fight crime more effectively even though using private intelligence to fight crime is not new.”

“State intelligence services are still not as effective as they should be and along with mistrust of government and formal state agencies the result is people in general are not at liberty to share info with state structures,” said Fivaz.

And that, Fivaz said, is one of the main reasons why private intelligence operations by the business sector can fill the gap and make a decisive contribution to South Africa.

The post Thank Eskom private intel project for decrease in power blackouts says George Fivaz appeared first on ProtectionWeb.