Fraud and Corruption at Philippi Police Academy, South Africans Blame Parliament Members for Issues

• Members of Parliament's Police Portfolio Committee recently visited the Philippi Police Training Academy
• MPs were surprised the the financial mismanagement evident at the academy and the lack of accountability
• South Africans expected the training academy to be in poor condition and blamed MPs for not doing better

CAPE TOWN – The state of the Philippi Police Training Academy has left members of parliament surprised, but South Africans less so.

Members of Parliament's Police Portfolio Committee recently visited the academy, hoping to obtain answers about its operation.

The academy has been at the centre of fraud and corruption allegations, as well as claims of mismanagement.

MPs in disbelief over state of academy

Members of parliament who visited the academy were surprised by its state and the fact that students were not even using some of the facilities.

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Action SA member Dereleen James stated that the library computers had not been used in years, and only about 10% of the students used the gym.

No audit since 2017

The Democratic Alliance's Ian Cameron also revealed that the academy had not been audited since 2017, and large amounts of money have been unaccounted for since then.

He added that financial mismanagement allegations were investigated a year ago, and they couldn't understand why no charges were laid or arrests made since then.

Netizens not surprised

While MPs are shocked by their findings, many South Africans expected it.

@hendrik_mu92539:

"The training facilities represent the standard of the police, what a waste of taxpayer's money."

Maans Becker added:

"Story of 3 blind mice comes to mind. The only difference is it's not three, and it's not mice."

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Elise Labuschagne blamed MPs for the problems:

"Not surprised. MPs are out of touch with what is happening on the ground because they would rather party and have lunch than visit the institutions for which they are responsible. If they did regular visits, this wouldn't happen."

Mohau Mofokeng agreed:

"MPs have been sleeping on duty for a very long time."

Brian Mc said:

"Useless MPs are always shocked."

Riaan Vermeulen also didn't understand why anyone was shocked:

"Why are they shocked? What did they expect they will find? All these shocked people need to wake up now and understand the ANC will never change. This is the way they operate. Point."

@JasonWa77473271 summed it up:

“Cadres not Cops.”

Parliament calls for probe into police station

It’s not the first time that police stations and training academies have come under fire.

Briefly News reported in 2022 how a Johannesburg Police Station was in the spotlight,

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A parliamentary committee asked for a probe into the station after 150 firearms went missing.

Source: Briefly News