editorial

Johannesburg — MUCH has been made of the guilty verdict in the Selebi case as a showpiece for SA's judicial system. And it's true that there are not many countries where the former police chief would be had up for corruption, and convicted.

It's true too that the conviction of former police commissioner Jackie Selebi on corruption charges was not an easy one to achieve - and that it came at extremely high cost to SA's law enforcement institutions.

Former president Thabo Mbeki did his best to prevent Selebi being charged, going as far as to get rid of the then head of the National Prosecuting Authority, Vusi Pikoli. The investigation and prosecution of Selebi was the nail in the coffin for the Scorpions, because their pursuit of this case made them such vicious enemies at the top of the police and of the Mbeki administration.

That meant this was hardly an easy case to put together: early on at least, there were hints that the police themselves were obstructing the investigation. Then there was the fact that the Scorpions were disbanded halfway through it. And there was the dodginess of some key witnesses: as always in cases involving the underworld, the state has to rely on witnesses who are not exactly people of honesty and integrity.

So this was a tough one to pursue and an even tougher case to judge.

It does indeed reflect well on SA's courts. And as the ANC put it: "We can be proud that our judicial system can stand among the best in the world."

The fact remains, however, that for eight years SA's police force was led by someone who has now been labelled a liar by the high court. Judge Meyer Joffe described Selebi as having "low moral fibre". He said Selebi was someone who could not be relied upon.

And this was our police chief, the man who was supposed to lead the fight against crime? No wonder we couldn't sleep well in our beds at night.

We had a police chief who consorted with some very dodgy people, numbering drug lords and leaders of organised crime syndicates among his friends. We had a police chief who was so fond of life's little luxuries that he was happy to take shoes, suits and holidays from Glenn Agliotti, a man who was convicted for dealing in drugs three years ago and has been charged with murder. We had a police chief who took bribes in return for ensuring Agliotti and his friends got preferential treatment from the South African Police Service (SAPS). And we had a police chief whose attempts to fabricate evidence during his trial were so pathetic as to be an embarrassment.

In one sense, it no longer matters. Selebi was suspended early in 2008 and has long since been replaced as police commissioner.

The damage was done, to the Scorpions and the reputation of the Mbeki presidency and to the police themselves. But there's no going back now.

But in another sense it matters a great deal. The Selebi debacle happened because SA's police chief is far too powerful -- and far too political. As long as the police commissioner is a political appointment, not a professional one, SA will be vulnerable to this kind of abuse.

As it is, SA has one of the world's largest police forces. The SAPS employs some 151000 police officers -- because policing here is so centralised. That makes the commissioner a very powerful person anyway. But when he is a politician, appointed because of his political loyalty to president and party rather than because of his professional expertise, that makes him even more powerful. And the risk is that his performance (or lack of it) may not matter as long as his political standing remains good. We need a professional in charge of our police force, not a politician. The Selebi verdict underlines that.

Ideally, it would send a message too to every one of those 151000 policemen and women, and indeed to any official or politician no matter how senior, that if they take bribes they will be caught and convicted. But that will be true only if our law enforcement agencies do indeed pursue cases of corruption without fear or favour. We don't have nearly enough evidence that they do.

Source: http://allafrica.com