The DA is still waiting for Western Cape Police Commissioner, Lt. Gen. Thembisile Patekile, to take two urgent actions that could help turn the tide against Cape Flats crime: first, to explain why six police dogs have been left untrained for over three months, and second, to confirm the dismissal of a Lentegeur police officer found guilty of fraud. This delay comes as the latest crime statistics show violence and drug-related crime spiralling out of control.
In July alone, Harare recorded 19 murders, Khayelitsha 18, and Delft 16. Drug-related arrests hit 236 in Delft, 216 in Khayelitsha, and 123 in Harare. These are the very hotspots where gangs thrive on the drug trade – yet Cape Town has just one operational narcotics sniffer dog for the entire metro.
Following an oversight visit to the Cape Town SAPS K9 unit this week, it emerged that this unit can only reactively respond to crime – not proactively. Six medically fit and readiness-assessed K9s have been sitting idle for three months, waiting to be sent to Roodeplaat for specialist narcotics and explosives training. Despite repeated DA letters demanding their deployment, the DA has heard crickets. Every day of delay is another day gangs operate with impunity.
Equally shocking is the Police Commissioner’s refusal to swiftly act against Warrant Officer Sahabodien, a convicted fraudster, who was found guilty in two separate disciplinary processes, implicated in selling police dockets and also arrested for drunk driving. Whilst his first dismissal sanction was overturned by the Commissioner, his second dismissal sanction has been on Patekile’s desk since 18 July; yet he remains in uniform and on the payroll.
While the Cape Flats bleeds, SAPS senior management is shielding a criminal in SAPS uniform and sidelines some of the most effective crime-fighting assets and force-multipliers we have.
The DA will write to the National Commissioner and to the new Minister of Police, to bring these worrying trends to his attention and request his immediate action.