The South African Police Service (SAPS) is considering publishing the names of new recruits to put them up against public scrutiny so as ensure that the force does not “simply take criminals and give them our uniforms and resources”, a police ministry spokesperson said yesterday (18 March).

Zweli Mnisi told the government news agency that the idea, designed to “cleanse the South African Police Service of unwanted people who shame our image”, came up at a meeting between the police minister and 1,500 senior police in January – before a number of high-profile events bought SAPS into international disrepute.

Recent incidents have seen Hilton Botha, the detective investigating murder allegations against Paralympic and Olympic star Oscar Pistorius, quitting the police force amidst an apparently poorly-handled investigation and revelations that he himself was facing attempted murder charges. Separately, two officers are under investigation after two unrelated cases of individuals being dragged from police vehicles along the road, with the victim killed in one incident.

Comparing a potential system to that used by parliament before approving a new piece of legislation, Mnisi says: “The format would be to publish these names utilising various media platforms such as newspapers. It would also help us to ensure that those that we recruit serve as good role models in the communities and that we do not simply take criminals and give them our uniforms and resources,” adding that the implementation of such a system was not a fait accompli.

He also suggested that the police’s training division would have a major part to play in creating “a police that is here to serve our people and is able to inspire the confidence of the ordinary person on the street and that has its underlining philosophy a community orientated service” and that the responsibility for shaping and monitoring the service extended to every South African citizen.