Cape Town - The commander of the Mitchells Plain police station, Brigadier Cass Goolam, has asked for a transfer to another division because he claims his present circumstances “are sensitively explosive and untenable”, and he is unable to function “under these working
circumstances”.
Goolam, who was blamed in 2017 for 15 police guns that went missing from the police station but was exonerated two years later, has asked to be moved to the crime intelligence division “where I can be better utilised because of my vast experience in that environment”.
In a letter to his superiors, Goolam launched a scathing attack on his employer (the SAPS) about the 15 official pistols that went missing in August 2017, and said the SAPS had seen fit to “unjustifiably and maliciously persecute” members under his command.
“The SAPS was desperate to destroy our careers at whatever cost in a malicious disciplinary process. The major-general who conducted the investigation disregarded the principles of the SAPS’s disciplinary rules.
“In January, having been appointed the Western Cape police ombudsman, the same former major-general lied on record and under oath in my departmental trial,” he said.
“In January, I was exonerated of all charges and in the findings the chairperson recommended that a proper investigation be conducted and that the correct perpetrators be prosecuted criminally. To date, the employer has not reacted. I have been ‘raped’ by the employer,” Goolam said.
He further stated that since returning to his post, the coherence of his personnel had diminished, there was mistrust and his community relations as well as the community safety structures had taken a knock.
“The SAPS has been my life since I was 20 years old; it has taken me out of poverty, provided shelter, sustenance and educated my children. But I am consumed by anger,” he added.
Activist Colin Arendse said Goolam was part of the Jeremy Vearey group who was systematically targeted, dismissed and who returned to their positions after a Labour Court ruling.
@TheCapeArgus