Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula should urgently appoint a commission of inquiry to investigate corruption in his department, the New National Party urged on Tuesday.

"South Africans are being let down by the people who are suppose to protect them," NNP media director Adriaan van Jaarsveld said in a statement.

In a recent written reply to a question in the National Assembly, Nqakula said a total of 2689 police officers currently faced criminal charges.

These cases included aiding escapees (34), armed robbery (1), assault (633), bribery (6), corruption (95), defeating the course of justice (45), fraud (25), murder (32), rape (11), robbery (11), and theft (148).

All these cases were pending against members of the South African Police Service, Nqakula said.

Van Jaarsveld said in view of "these horrific figures", the NNP demanded that Nqakula appoint a commission to investigate corruption in his department, similar to the correctional services department's Jali Commission.

"The number of corruption cases against members of the South African Police Service is embarrassingly high.

"Incompetence, corruption, bribery and the lack of discipline in the SAPS must be rooted out," he said.

These corrupt officers were tarnishing the name of the SAPS and creating the impression that all officers were corrupt, causing people to lose confidence in the police.

While the NNP had great respect for Nqakula and the work being done by him and his department, these corrupt elements had to be removed from the police, Van Jaarsveld said.

With acknowledgements to Sapa and iafrica.com