A former Acting National Police Commissioner, General Mkhwanazi, recently told a parliamentary committee shocking details about how politics, greed, and secret agents have messed up the South African Police Service (SAPS). Mkhwanazi, who calls himself a career policeman, started his career because he wanted to fight criminals and violence in his township, Ashtown. He joined specialized units like the Special Task Force (STF) because he wanted to be where the "action" was. Police Discipline Fell Apart Mkhwanazi explained that the discipline in the police service got worse when the police forces merged after 1994. Using the word "Comrade": He said that introducing the word "comrade" among police ranks, like a constable calling a captain "comrade," hurt the police's professional culture. Political Friends (Caders) Joining: He believes that "deployed caders"—people brought into SAPS who did not "grow up in the police...
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