Analysts have warned that the re-introduction of a military rank system in the SA Police Service could end up being a "treason to the principles of policing".

While the police currently have a civilian rank system, inherited from the British, the new proposed ranks would consist of ranks like constable, sergeant, warrant officer, lieutenant, captain, major, colonel and brigadier.

They would also include major general, lieutenant general and general.

"It is not a new thing," said crime expert Johan Burger of the Pretoria-based Institute of Security Studies.

"Former minister Steve Tshwete said it in 1999 already. He said he found superintendents at schools and hospitals and inspectors at every institution."

Tshwete said such civilian ranks did not instil a sense of force and criminals tended to respect them less.

Deputy Police Minister Fikile Mbalula was working on the re-introduction of a military system, but no changes had been made yet, said national police spokesperson Senior Superintendent Vishnu Naidoo.

'It was absolutely grim'

Andre Beukes, deputy commissioner of police in the Nelson Mandela-era, is adamant that the police should stay away from a militarised police force.

"Never again. In The Lord's name, please!" A military ranking system will change nothing in the operational systems of the police, said Beukes.

"It will only draw them back to the swamp that they were in before 1994."

Beukes remembered the days when the police patrolled townships with Caspirs, armed with machine guns.

"Prior to 1994, the police had a military focus. Koevoet (a police unit) did body counts with the army. It was absolutely grim.

"That was treason to the principles of policing." Beukes agreed there should be high levels of training and discipline in the police, but argued that the same could be said of hospitals and schools.

"You cannot enforce discipline by introducing military ranks," he said. "That is ridiculous".

The government also plans to incorporate all the metro police departments into a single "super police" force and there are talks that the country's 53 000 reservists' role would be downgraded.

And with the Scorpions already disbanded and incorporated into the police, a single police force may result in the monopolisation of power, giving the majority ANC government a tool to use for their own agenda without any opposition.

"The chances are good that in a democracy, a party other than the ruling party can take control of a province, like in the Western Cape at the moment, which means they gain control of a certain part of the instruments of power of that province," said Burger.

"So, the idea that one gets is that all those instruments of power are now going to be placed under the sole control of the national government.

Indiscretions of the past?

"This reminds one very strongly of the abuse of the police by the old government before 1994. And here we get the feeling that the current government is heading in the same direction and the fear exists that it can lead to the same indiscretions as in the past."

All the recent key appointments in the police and security forces are, as expected, loyal to President Jacob Zuma and his administration, said security and intelligence expert George Nicholls, of Pasco Risk Management.

An increasingly large number of recent appointments have been operatives in Umkhonto we Sizwe's operation Vula, the last MK operation that was aimed at militarily overthrowing the National Party government.

Nicholls believes the risk does not necessarily lie in the police, but in oversight and control of State security organs as a whole.

"While there are laws governing these offices, as we have seen during the previous administration, principles, rules and conduct were influenced or manipulated to suit political agendas," said Nicholls.

And with national police commissioner Bheki Cele as a political appointee, rather than coming through the ranks of the police, professor David Mashiloane, head of Police Studies at Unisa, said the chances that he would make decisions based on a political agenda were higher.

"We have the ANC in a majority in parliament, so they will be able to get away with what they want to get away with," said Mashiloane.

Constitutional law expert Pierre De Vos said to change the rank of the national commissioner to general and the name of the SA Police Service to the South African Police Force, would require a change in the Constitution.

He said it was relatively easy for the ANC to do this, as it only required a two third majority and a period for citizens to comment on the decision. But this would merely result in a cosmetic change.

"The bigger issue is that we have a police 'service' who works alongside the community to fight crime, where a 'force' implies a quasi-military unit that instils fear in the community," said De Vos.

"This would be contrary to all policing principles as the police will not be able to do their work without the community's help.

"It would create a vicious circle, where the community becomes more and more afraid of the police and the police becomes more aggressive and lose legitimacy," said De Vos.