Cape Town - Hanif Loonat, the province’s suspended Community Policing Forum (CPF) chairman, says he will severe all ties with the police regardless of the outcome of an investigation into his conduct.
He announced he would launch an independent police watchdog organisation, Victims of Crime, that could not be taken “hostage” by the police. And he would continue to challenge the police’s allegations of misconduct until he was “vindicated”.
Western Cape police suspended Loonat last week for “alleged misconduct”, apparently over remarks he made to the media earlier this year.
In one instance, Loonat reportedly said there was wide-scale bribery of police by gangsters in Cape Town; in the other, he slammed Athlone police station for “poor service delivery”.
Loonat said he had been misquoted about police-gangster corruption, but stuck to his criticism of Athlone police.
He believed that his suspension was due not only to his outspokenness but also to “vendettas” by high-ranking police officers. Community police forum chairs are voluntary, unpaid positions.
“I have sacrificed my time, my family life and a lot of money for this position. Yet I was never willing to be a rubber stamp for the police. As a result there has been a personal and political campaign to get rid of me for some time.”
On Tuesday, the Civilian Secretariat for Police, which oversees CPFs nationally, confirmed that a “high-powered delegation” had flown from Pretoria to Cape Town to meet stakeholders in the suspension.
It is understood that the two comments make up only part of the “alleged misconduct” charges against Loonat. He has called for all charges to be made public and independently investigated.
“I will be able to defend myself on every count, and prove that I am the victim of a conspiracy,” he said.
To place Loonat’s suspension in context, Cassiem Christians, former CPF cluster chairman for Athlone, described the sensitive position of the forums as an interface between police and the communities they served.
“Naturally, the police expect us to portray them in a positive light because trust and co-operation with the community are key to fighting crime. Yet, as the CPF, we are very sensitive to effects of the recent spate of gang-related shootings. Communities often feel that police are not doing enough to stop this. Then there is pressure on us to expose inefficiency and instances of police corruption.”
Christians added that the CPF would “never find a more hardworking chairman” than Loonat.
Loonat claimed that provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General Arno Lamoer, who signed the suspension, had been “manipulated”.
“He was misguided and chose to shoot the messenger, instead of listening to the concerns that communities raised. It proves that the CPF has become a lame duck,” he said.
Provincial police refused to comment, saying the suspension and investigation were “internal affairs”.
Cape Argus