The South African “Fantastic 8” in the Seychelles Police
COMPOL WILL HAVE SERIOUS QUESTIONS TO ANSWER
Last week in our article “The South African exploits in the Seychelles Police” we introduced the characters in the “Fantastic Eight” who among them earn more than one million rupees per month, and together are bruising the morale of our local Police force.
This week we dig our boots a little deeper in the matter to discover how some of them are ill-suited to their posts and are a demoralizing force among Seychellois officers.
Take Gerard Botes, for example, who allegedly left the South African Police Service as a SERGEANT in the Endangered Species Unit to quickly become a SUPERINTENDENT in the Financial Criminal Investigation Unit of the Seychelles Police.
Blue-eyed boy
Another much complained about promotion is of Jan Celliers, seemingly the blue-eyed boy of Police Commissioner Kishnan Labonte.
Celliers left the Police Force in South Africa in 1996, from the Unit of Commerce and Financial Crime Investigation, and in Seychelles he has become to all intents and purposes the de facto Deputy Commissioner.
Word has it that Celliers is seen as one of the few cops here with an “apartheid” mentality, trying to impose archaic methods on the Seychellois people.
All the others left South Africa at lower ranks than what they have been promoted to in the Seychelles Police, where they now hold very senior ranks above the locals.
The open display of favoritism for the foreigners have placed the Seychellois officers in many embarrassing situations that have led to insecurities within the force.
Seychellois officers are afraid to take initiatives in case they would upset their South African masters, notably the “tantrum brat” Celliers; they operate in fear of displeasing him, and worry about rocking the boat by upsetting the teacher’s pets.
Low morale
The issues of low morale go further. The South Africans have all the top positions in the echelon of the Seychelles Police and the young Seychellois professionals are not seeing advancement or progress in their career.
One Seychellois officer jokingly relates how Celliers returned from an overseas conference with Heins Prinsloo in his pocket and immediately had him in the position of Superintendent of the Financial Criminal Investigation Unit, considering the appointment as one of his best contributions to the Seychelles Police force so far.
To add insult to injury, it has been remarked that when a South African would travel overseas, there are always funds to meet his travel expenses, but when a Seychellois is involved even on fully sponsored events, the police has no money if they do not like the person who is going on the trip, and it is the South Africans who decide who’s good to go.
Replacing old with older
At the time of writing, the Seychelles Independent has learnt that two very senior and long serving officers are facing termination soon. Perhaps they are too old or they are not competent enough.
But interestingly, Seychelles Police is probably the only force in the world that dismisses its own old Seychellois Police Officers, only to employ older, senile foreign officers who can’t get work in their respective country.
In another painful twist, some of these South Africans have the audacity to tell the locals that if they don’t like what they see they can leave. And we have a Commissioner who is willing to let go of local officers, but keep foreigners at an exorbitant cost to the taxpayers.
With the South Africans collecting all the praises from Commissioner Labonte for good work done by Seychellois officers, no wonder the morale is at an all-time low in the Police Force. And that serves the South Africans well for they get to stay longer and enrich themselves further.
