General Fannie Masemola: Cop killings, DNA backlog and more on top cop’s list of priorities

President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday announced General Fannie Masemola as South Africa’s new national police commissioner.

Masemola replaced General Khehla Sitole as the country’s top cop.

The 58-year-old Masemola is a former deputy national commissioner for policing and served as Limpopo’s provincial police commissioner.

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During a media briefing on Friday, Masemola outlined his key priorities as he begins his term of office.

He admitted that he was assuming office during a challenging time when public trust and confidence in the South African Police Service (Saps) is very low.

Masemola said his immediate priority would be to build and strengthen community-police relations and change the prevailing negative public perception about Saps.

He would also focus on building the morale and integrity of police officers, who he said, had a constitutional duty to serve and protect communities.

“As clichéd as it sounds, it is true that a happy employee is a productive employee,” Masemola said.

General Masemola’s priorities:

Cop killings

Issues of police safety and the killing of police officers top the list of Masemola’s focus areas.

“We need our communities to work with us and assist us in identifying the perpetrators of this crime that seek to undermine the authority of the state. These criminals live in our communities,” he said.

ALSO READ: Cop Killings: Communities urged to help after weekend of police attacks

DNA backlog

Masemola said he would urgently attend to the Saps’ DNA backlog in the Forensic Science Laboratories and the Central Firearm Registry would also receive priority attention.

Saps vacancies

The issue of filling critical vacancies in environments such as Crime Intelligence and the Hawks would top Masemola’s list of priorities.

“Top of the agenda will also be the advanced and refresher training of members as we embrace international policing standards.

“This is over and above the entry-level training such as the one that will commence soon for the 12 000 new recruits,” Masemola said.

Cash-in-transit heists

Masemola said police would intensify their efforts to reduce the prevalence of cash-in-transit heists and other aggravated crimes.

“Another concern is the issue of damage to critical infrastructure and extortion at construction sites as the president has mentioned during his Sona and many other times.

“A dedicated capacity has already been established in this regard and we will be dealing decisively with crimes in relation to critical Infrastructure and illicit mining.”

Compiled by Thapelo Lekabe

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