Mangwashi Victoria Phiyega. Photo courtesy of the Guardian.

Social worker Mangwashi Victoria Phiyega has been appointed the new police chief of South Africa’s troubled national police force, a move protested by the police union, according to this article in The Guardian.

President Jacob Zuma hopes Phiyega will help put a dent in corruption among police and help lower the nation’s high crime rate and violence and rapes of women.

However, the South African Police Union is displeased a non-police officer has been appointed to the position.

“Her appointment is a vote of no confidence in the senior police management,” said Johan Burger, a former high-ranking officer who is now a senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies. “There are many good, honest and hard-working officers in the senior ranks, and this is a slap in the face. It’s humiliating to have someone brought in from outside.”