Rédaction Africa Links 24 with Caryn Dolley
Published on 2024-02-20 16:09:50
The South African Police Service (SAPS) has been in the spotlight once again due to a recent judgment delivered in the labour court in Cape Town on Tuesday, February 20th, 2022. The judgment found that former policeman Jeremy Vearey, a major general who was dismissed from the service in 2021, was unfairly treated during his arbitration trial following his dismissal.
Vearey was found guilty of misconduct relating to eight Facebook posts he made between December 2020 and February 2021. These posts led to his dismissal, with the national commissioner of police at the time, Khehla Sitole, signing off on his termination. One of the most controversial posts that led to Vearey’s dismissal included the words “moer hulle,” which was interpreted by certain police bosses as a threat. However, Vearey explained that he used the term in his dialect, Afrikaaps, and not Afrikaans, and that it was meant as encouragement.
Following his dismissal, Vearey challenged the decision through the Safety and Security Sectoral Bargaining Council, which initially ruled that his termination was fair. However, the recent judgment in the labour court has set aside this previous ruling, stating that Vearey did not receive a fair trial and that a new determination of the allegations against him and the fairness of his dismissal needs to be made by the bargaining council.
This recent development in Vearey’s case comes as a turn of events, considering the circumstances surrounding his dismissal and the controversy that followed. President Cyril Ramaphosa’s early termination of Commissioner Khehla Sitole’s contract in February 2022, the one who signed off on Vearey’s dismissal, has added another layer of complexity to the situation. This has cast further scrutiny on the internal workings of the SAPS and the treatment of its officers.
Vearey has faced multiple accusations throughout his career, including alleged corruption and misconduct. He was involved in Project Impi, an investigation that revealed certain police officers were smuggling firearms to gangsters in the Western Cape. Vearey and his colleague, Peter Jacobs, who headed Crime Intelligence in the Western Cape at the time, faced backlash within the police service following their involvement in the investigation.
These allegations and incidents have put Vearey at the center of a complex web of controversies within the SAPS. The recent developments in his case have brought to light the need for transparency, fairness, and accountability within the police service, not only for Vearey but also for other officers facing similar challenges.
The future of Vearey’s case now rests in the hands of the SAPS, which has the option to challenge or accept the labour court’s findings. If accepted, this could lead to potential retirement and the payment of certain dues owed to Vearey. The ongoing saga highlights the need for a thorough and fair investigation into the circumstances surrounding his dismissal and the allegations against him, with potential ramifications for the broader context of police accountability and transparency in South Africa.
Read the original article on Daily Maverick
