Pretoria - Despite media reports and perceptions to the contrary, the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department is serious about tackling corruption within its ranks and has the figures to prove it.
This is according to Elgina Ndlovu, a Member of the Mayoral Committee for Public Safety in the City of Johannesburg, who said official statistics compiled by the JMPD showed that decisive action was taken against corrupt and unethical officials over a five year period.
"The figures show that the department has acted where evidence of bribery or corruption was reported to its internal affairs division and strong action, including dismissal, was taken against guilty officials," she said.
Ndlovu noted that in recent weeks, allegations have been made in the media that corruption in the JMPD was rife and that officials regularly accept bribes to quash actions against traffic offenders. She also referred to perceptions that the JMPD refused to act against corrupt officials and complaints from the public are being swept under the carpet
"None of these are true. The JMPD's figures show exactly the opposite picture and that there is, indeed, a declining trend in the number of cases reported over the past five years," Ndlovu said.
Figures showed that between July 2006 and September 2010, the JMPD's Internal Affairs Directorate received 2 244 complaints. "These figures show a declining trend since 2006/07 (599) to 2009/10 (476)," she explained.
Detailing the nature of the complaints, Ndlovu said 1650 had been for conduct unbecoming, 81 for assault,78 for fraud and corruption, 70 for absent without leave and 60 for corruption.
"The number of allegations received referring to issues of "fraud, corruption, or bribery" has shown a significant decline in the four year period," she added.
The JMPD investigated 1250 of the reported cases. Of these 60 percent or 745 proved to be unsubstantiated, 147 were undetected, 82 were either withdrawn or settled and in 20 percent or 249 officials were prosecuted.
Of the cases referred for prosecution, 44 had resulted in not guilty verdicts. In the remaining cases the JMPD took the "strongest possible action" with 62 dismissals, 50 withdrawal from duties, 37 suspensions without pay and 22 written warnings.
"These figures should be evaluated against the growth in the number of JMPD officials employed - from about 1 500 in 2006 - to the current force component of more than 3 500 today.
"This means that despite a growth in the number of officers and a significant increase in the number of "person hours" on duty the number of reported cases show a real decline," Ndlovu said.
Despite the results to the informal surveys by the media that suggest corruption was rife and the perceptions of public, the evidence did not support this, she added,
"Media surveys and participants in phone-in programmes on radio can at best provide anecdotal evidence. It is of little value to the city unless it is turned into formal complaints. The JMPD cannot act on allegations unless it is provided with evidence."
Ndlovu called on the public to support the JMPD's effort to root out corruption by reporting incidents.
She also appealed to the media refrain from making unsubstantiated allegations of corruption and bribery without providing the supporting evidence.
