Africa-Press – Eswatini. The policing profession places a high premium on behavioral attributes such as honesty, integrity, confidentiality and selflessness, therefore maintaining discipline is crucial for the Royal Eswatini Police Service.
These were sentiments of Senior Deputy National Commissioner – Emmanuel Sula Dlamini during a two-day workshop to capacitate senior officers on conducting disciplinary hearings, held at Matsapha Police Academy last week Wednesday.
Dlamini noted that if discipline levels deteriorate, the Police Service cannot be able to effectively deliver on its mandate. He charged the commanding officers as custodians with the responsibility of enforcing discipline.
The Senior Deputy National Commissioner said the workshop for officers between the ranks of Assistant Superintendent to Senior Superintendent was a product of consultations with the chairperson of the Civil Service Commission(CSC).
He revealed that it was during one of these conversations where he outlined operational challenges within the Royal Eswatini Police Service due to stagnant disciplinary cases.
Dlamini stated that the chairperson of the Csc then conceptualised the capacity building workshop to empower officers who are tasked with conducting disciplinary hearings. He said the purpose of the workshop was to recalibrate the disciplinary procedures in the Police Service whose stagnant nature had led to a deteriorating discipline in general.
He said the decline in discipline was evident in the number of police officers charged with criminal offences. He expressed hope that the workshop would bring a turnaround on efficiency in disciplinary hearing and pave way forward on cases of suspended officers.
Speaking during the workshop, the Chairperson of the Civil Service Commission – Simanga Mamba stated that the need for a disciplined Police Service cannot be overemphasised especially because discipline was a fundamental aspect for efficiency.
He said disciplinary hearings were meant to regulate discipline and to deal with conduct that is in breach of existing policies and legislations.
Mamba stated that consistency was vital in handling disciplinary hearings so that rulings were capable of withstanding any scrutiny or review.
He said the key was for those conducting the disciplinary hearing to remain objective and neutral so that they could be able to apply the reasonable test throughout, as opposed to being subjective.
He further noted that it was equally crucial to appreciate that we were now living under a constitutional dispensation, therefore disciplinary procedures should always be in compliance.
The chairperson of the CSC noted that as a disciplined force, the Royal Eswatini Police Service should set the standard and lead by example.
He said it could be unfortunate if the Civil Service Commission could be efficient and effective in handling disciplinary hearings while the Police Service lagged behind. He stated that they had been mandated with improving the Civil Service and this called for uniform procedures in conducting disciplinary hearings for both civil servants and police officers.
The Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Public Service – Sipho Tsabedze said there was a breakdown of discipline in the Police Service and it needed to be addressed as it brought an outcry from members of the public.
He stated that discipline in the workplace in general was very important and the purpose of disciplinary actions was to correct employee behaviour while ensuring that all personnel meet the required standards of conduct and performance. He said discipline in our lives was meant to set orderliness as well as bring efficiency and punctuality in the workplace
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