Senior cop not at case management meetings

Site B Khayelitsha station commander Brigadier Zithulele Dladla. Photo: WILLEM LAW

Site B Khayelitsha station commander Brigadier Zithulele Dladla. Photo: WILLEM LAW

Published Feb 19, 2014

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Cape Town - Senior management of a Khayelitsha police station in Cape Town did not attend case management meetings, an inquiry into policing in the area heard on Wednesday.

Site B Khayelitsha station commander Brigadier Zithulele Dladla was asked whether he attended the monthly meetings, especially in light of problems with dockets.

He replied that he delegated the attendance to the head of detective services but that he too attended sometimes.

Ncumisa Mayosi, for the complainant organisations, said she had seen the meeting minutes and Dladla had not attended any.

“Yes, I did not attend,” he conceded.

Mayosi asked if he was aware that his subordinate had also not attended any of the meetings.

“No, I am not aware... I will accept there is a lack on our side and if we didn't attend... that's wrong,” Dladla replied.

He said he planned to rectify the situation.

Mayosi asked the station commander how he assessed detectives' performances if meetings were not attended.

“I check by inspecting some of the dockets. When I do check, I check the instructions that are given are complied with.”

An inspectorate assessed 100 dockets in 2013 and made 29 findings about dockets that could not be found.

A follow-up inspection last month revealed that many dockets could not be traced in the archives.

Dladla said the dockets were likely not lost but had been misfiled in the archives.

He said most dockets and statements were scanned as a back-up.

Mayosi asked whether he believed there had been an improvement in the number of dockets which arrived timeously at court.

“I'll say so because... normally I would get an e-mail if dockets are not at court but there was a reduction of e-mails and Whatsapp messages of dockets not at court.”

The Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry, headed by retired Constitutional Court judge Kate O'Regan, and advocate Vusi Pikoli - was set up by Western Cape premier Helen Zille after residents lodged complaints about police inefficiency, which was the apparent cause of a spate of mob justice killings in the area. - Sapa

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