Corruption Watch announces project to hold police accountable

Corruption Watch is funding a new project that will help people to report corruption at their local police stations. The interactive website will be called Bua Mzansi-Know your Police Station.

The site will also allow people to get information on their local police stations and rate their experiences. It is intended to cover the 1,100 plus stations in the country.

Corruption Watch’s annual report from 2017 found that “poor police leadership has cost lives and has impacted on public safety”.

Executive Director of Corruption Watch David Lewis told GroundUp that “the current state of the criminal justice is an impediment to transparency and justice”.

Lewis said the organisation started the project to “gather data about every police station in the country” to try to involve communities and increase accountability. He hopes the site will provide information on police stations such as who the station commander is, the number of employees, the facilities at the station, and number of vehicles. This will allow community members to hold police accountable “with a greater body of knowledge”.

Police corruption was brought up last week at a hearing of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Police. Members of Parliament criticised stations for failing to combat corruption, contributing to persistent crime.

Author: Kim Reynolds

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