First National Commissioner of the South African Police Service

JG Fivaz

John George Fivaz joined the former South African Police in 1964 and underwent his basic police training at the Pretoria Police College. During his career he served in many positions doing normal police duties in various fields such as patrolling, charge office duties, attending to complaints, crime detection, management, work study and police administration. He also commanded various units such as the detective branch in Harrington Street, Cape Town, the SANAB branch in Bloemfontein and Efficiency Services at Head Office, Pretoria. He was transferred many times and mainly served in the provinces of Western Cape, Orange Free State and Gauteng. He holds a BAdmin degree which he completed on a part-time basis at the University of the Orange Free State in 1976. Apart from that he is also fully qualified as a work study officer and police administrator. He is married to Anna-Beth and they have four sons.

At the end of 1976 Fivaz settled in Pretoria and became a member of the National Inspectorate of the South African Police and dealt with issues such as restructuring, decentralization of authority and strategic planning. In this capacity he visited and studied police management styles and structures in Canada, USA, Europe and Southern America.

He was appointed National Commissioner of the South African Police Service on 29 January 1995 by President Nelson Mandela. After his appointment he faced the challenge of amalgamating the eleven police agencies of the past into one South African Police Service. At the same time he had to manage the adoption of a new style of policing for South Africa namely community policing. He was also responsible for transforming the police service into an effective and acceptable policing agency for South Africa.

George Fivaz retired during January 2000 and was succeeded by Commissioner Jackie Selebi. Commissioner Fivaz will be remembered for his work in amalgamating the eleven policing agencies of the past into one united South African Police Service and for laying the foundation for a new democratic policing service for South Africa. He has also played a constructive role in the formation of SARPCCO (Southern African Regional Police Chiefs Coordinating Organisation) in order to enhance co-operation between policing agencies in the southern region of Africa.

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