EWN reports that members of parliament's police portfolio committee were left gobsmacked after it was revealed that the police service still has illiterate members.  

This was confirmed by deputy commissioner for policing, Sehlahle Masemola, on a question about the monitoring of police pocketbooks.  Last year, the lack of pocketbooks in which officers are meant to take notes about crime scenes was raised in the police's annual report.  Masemola said he discovered the illiteracy problem during a visit to police stations in December.  MPs also complained that people were being turned away from police stations when they wanted to lodge complaints, and committee members questioned to what extent illiteracy was playing a role.  Police management promised to conduct an audit to determine the extent of the problem and provide feedback to the committee within two weeks.

• Read this report by Lindsay Dentlinger in full at EWN

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