Pubdate: Sat, 19 Jan 2008
Source: Star, The (South Africa)
Page: 2
Copyright: Independent Newspapers 2008
Contact:  http://www.thestar.co.za/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/423
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?236 (Corruption - Outside U.S.)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Marijuana)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)

POLICE PROTECT DRUGLORDS - ZILLE

There is a "rising tide" of corruption in the SA Police Service, 
Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille alleged yesterday.

"Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula and the leadership 
of the SAPS need to find the political will to acknowledge the grave 
threat that police corruption poses to our country," she said in her 
weekly online newsletter.

One of the main reasons the fight against drugs in South Africa was 
so ineffective was that the police were protecting druglords.

Referring to the charges against National Police Commissioner Jackie 
Selebi, Zille said many South Africans would not have been 
particularly surprised to learn of allegations that he was being paid 
protection money by a drug kingpin.

"After all, that merely reflects their daily experience at grassroots 
level, where distraught families of drug addicts are convinced that 
druglords are being protected by corrupt local policemen in return for bribes.

"In KwaZulu Natal, for example, the use of 'sugars' - a deadly 
mixture of low-grade heroin, cocaine and dagga - is spreading 
rapidly, largely due to the alleged co-operation between drug dealers 
and crooked SAPS officers."

Zille said that when the police arrested her and other members of the 
community during a legal and peaceful anti-drug march in Mitchells 
Plain recently, she had experienced first hand the police hostility 
towards those who were taking a stand against drugs.

"It was a surreal experience to be marching from one drug den to 
another [which often look like villas compared to the humble houses 
around them].

"I asked myself again and again: how is it possible that dealers can 
continue to ply an illegal trade that is destroying an entire 
generation of young people, under the noses of the police?"

Zille said the Selebi case made the answer obvious.

"Police protection of druglords is the key reason why the fight 
against the local drug trade is so ineffective."

Most telling was the acute perception of police corruption among the 
police themselves.

"According to last year's Institute for Security Studies survey of 
the police, 92% agreed that police corruption is a 'serious 
challenge' and 54% believed that corruption had increased in the 
previous four years.

Zille said there remained a great many policemen and women across the 
country who remained steadfastly committed to the battle against crime.

"These hard-working officers are increasingly undermined by the 
culture of graft and self-interest which is causing the public to 
lose faith in the force.

"I often ask myself: What can we do to help the many honest police 
officers to fight back against the rising tide of corruption and turn 
the SAPS into the force for good that it should be?" she said. - Sapa 
- ---
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake