Cape Town - The provincial ANC says it has written to President Cyril Ramaphosa calling for him to urgently address the divisions within the police service.
This comes after the dismissal of the provincial head of detectives, Jeremy Vearey, who was found guilty of misconduct over “disrespectful” posts on social media.
ANC provincial spokesperson for community safety, Mesuli Kama, said the party had also called for stability in the leadership and management of the police.
Kama said the news of the dismissal had been met with shock and sadness.
“He was a hard working officer who dedicated his life to fight for the protection of the masses of the people and for the safety of the communities,” Kama said.
He said Vearey was mostly feared by gangs and revered by his colleagues. He said his departure would be a great loss for the people of the Western Cape.
The Cape Argus tried to contact Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Tyrone Seale, but he did not respond by the time of publication.
Vearey was axed over Facebook posts allegedly aimed at National Police Commissioner Khehla Sitole. He was charged with bringing the police service into disrepute with eight posts between December 2020 and February 2021 containing links to media reports.
Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) spokesperson Richard Mamabolo said the union supported Vearey.
Mamabolo said in terms of the dispute resolution, Popcru had referred the matter to the Safety and Security Sectoral Bargaining Council.
“We will be making a dispute in terms of procedural and substantive fairness,” Mamabolo said.
Good party secretary-general Brett Herron said the police must stop fighting among themselves, while thousands of people in the province lived in the shadow of gangsterism.
He said police and lawyers were assassinated, and it felt as if the entire criminal justice system was on its knees.
“In this environment the politicisation of policing is dangerous and must stop. Policing in the province, and in the city in particular, is a hot mess,” he said.
ActionSA provincial chairperson Vytjie Mentor, called on everyone to stand and demand Ramaphosa and Police Minister Bheki Cele to review Sitole's decision.
"If there is anyone that has to be ousted out of the ranks of the police, is is Sitole himself not Major-General Vearey."
Parliament’s police portfolio committee chairperson, Tina Joemat-Pettersson, said the committee had requested a formal report on the matter.