Protector or predator? - Institute for Security Studies

1 Introduction
Almost two decades after the end of apartheid, the South African Police Service
(SAPS) continues to struggle with one of the major occupational hazards of policing,
namely the abuse of power. While progress has been made since the outright
brutalities of apartheid-era policing, corruption is one of the biggest challenges
facing the SAPS. Perhaps the lowest point was the conviction of South Africa’s
former National Commissioner of police, Jackie Selebi on corruption charges
in 2010.
In 1996 the National Crime Prevention Strategy (NCPS) identified ‘corruption
within the criminal justice system’ as one of the ‘crime categories of particular
concern’. This remains the case. While it is generally accepted by international
experts that some corruption occurs in most, if not all law enforcement agencies,
the key issue is to manage and control the extent and nature of the abuse. 1
The closure of the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) in 2002 was a step backwards
for the SAPS in terms of combating corruption and resulted in a reduction in the
numbers of arrests and convictions of police officials involved in corruption. In
1999, before the closure of the ACU, the SAPS began developing a Service Integrity
Framework (SIF) to help manage corruption in a more holistic manner. Yet the
SIF remained in draft form for a number of years. In 2007/08 it was re-worked and
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