Cape Town - Police Minister Bheki Cele said he is not investigating the infighting between senior police officers in the Western Cape, but has requested a report following allegations that the Major Offences Reaction Team (MORT) had been set up to rival the Anti-Gang Unit (AGU).
This was after the community policing forums in gang-infested areas called on Cele to place the Western Cape Police Service under administration.
The Mitchells Plain cluster, which includes eight CPFs, gave Cele a 48-hour ultimatum to stabilise the situation and place these areas under lockdown.
But until now Cele has not reacted.
Mitchells Plain cluster chairperson Lucinda Evans said as Cele has not taken note of them, they decided to march to the provincial commissioner’s office on Sunday to hand in their demands, “so that they can see how serious we are,” Evans said.
The issue is not about the SANDF being deployed on the Cape Flats, but it is about “our safety, since there is a problem of under-staffing in our province”, she said.
“There should be resources sent to all the affected areas experiencing gang violence.
“Those resources should be accompanied by the SANDF to close the gap of under-staffing.”
Evans said they were fighting for their communities…
“Every day our people are dying on the Cape Flats,” she said.
Bonteheuwel councillor Angus McKenzie on Sunday said they would be marching from the sub-council offices in Kiaat Road to Bishop Lavis police station.
“I will be handing over a list of basic demands and require immediate action within seven days, failing which this peaceful action will continue,” McKenzie said.
Their demands include increased permanent police visibility, increased arrests, investigations of gang-related crime and a no-bail policy for gangsters caught with firearms or using firearms.
McKenzie said they demand an upgrading of the satellite police stations in Bonteheuwel.
“This includes a communication method to ensure a quicker response time to a reported crime and a monthly feedback meeting to Bonteheuwel residents on the number of arrests and the progress thereof.”
Community activist Colin Arendse said he empathises with the communities; however, he said he does not support the idea of bringing in the army to the communities. “That will never be an answer.”
He said the AGU was established for the communities, “but everyone seems to be fighting with them”.
He added that they were concerned that MORT would be overtaken by the AGU.
Arendse said the AGU had not been allocated any funding or resources and that no police system or personnel records existed for the unit.
He said he couldn’t understand how MORT got funding, and they were established after the AGU.