It has emerged that a member of the protection services of Parliament is the cause of the security breach that occurred in the precinct recently.
The SAPS has admitted being found wanting in dealing with security matters at Parliament despite it being a national key point.
The SAPS bosses appeared before the Joint Portfolio Committees of the National Assembly on Police and Public Works on Wednesday.
This, after an incident in which a former employee Lennox Garane entered Parliament with a gun inside a bag, which was not scanned, before killing himself two weeks ago.
Major General Leon Rabie appealled to members of the committee to take a comprehensive and holistic approach in dealing with the issue.
“Sometimes these unfortunate incidents do happen. We realised that we have been neglecting certain processes. And it’s difficult to understand why such things have to happen before we need to improve things. This emphasised the need to have an integrated strategy to improve security in parliament. It is one of the key matters that we would like to raise Honourable Chair that protecting Parliament is not only the responsibility of the South African Police Service.”
However, SAPS senior management have told the joint Portfolio Committees on Police and Public Works that disciplinary action has since been initiated against involved police personnel.
Major General Leon Rabie says police investigation has shown that the bag of the deceased was not scanned on the fateful day.
Meanwhile, Police Minister Bheki Cele has called to all public representatives such as cabinet ministers and members of parliament to co-operate with the police in relation to safety at Parliament. Cele says it’s no use crying foul about security breaches at the institution when public representatives themselves are not leading by example.
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