Twenty-one police officers were dismissed from the organisation at the end of July on charges including corruption, theft and defeating the ends of justice, national police said on Friday.
The officers’ dismissals were part of national commissioner General Riah Phiyega’s effort to clean up and professionalise the SA Police Service, said police spokesperson Brigadier Vishnu Naidoo in a statement.
“The officials were arrested after the gathering of intensive intelligence information about illegal activities involving gold-dust in the gold-fields area,” said Naidoo.
A total of 1 463 police officers have been fired since Phiyega took over the police three years ago while 250 members remain on suspension of which about two-thirds are suspended without pay.
“One of the primary reasons I have ordered the setting up of the National Trial Investigative Unit is to speedily investigate and deal with rogue police officers,” said Phiyega.
“I urge every member of the Saps to let these dismissals be a reminder of what the outcome will be if any member is caught transgressing,” she said. News24