Cape Town – The ANC says it's disgusted at the DA-manufactured vendetta that has as its aim the removal of senior Western Cape police officers such as Major-General Jeremy Vearey.
Western Cape ANC secretary Faiez Jacobs said in a statement on Thursday that DA politicians such as City of Cape Town Mayor Dan Plato are behind the vendetta against Vearey. He said Plato, a former MEC for Safety and Security, has had a long-running agenda to get rid of General Vearey.
According to Jacobs, Plato has dubious links with Western Cape underworld figures, adding that the politician was photographed with Saleem Johnson. He is the son of Valhalla Park gangster Simon Stansfield, who is the brother of another gangster, the late Colin Stansfield.
“Why is the DA targeting police officers such as Vearey who have a proven record of fighting crime. Some DA leaders are colluding with criminals and sowing divisions in SAPS ranks. They’re destabilising policing in the Western Cape,” Jacobs said.
“Just when we think we’re turning the corner and getting to grips with violent crime, especially gangsterism, through the Anti-Gang Unit, the DA gets up to his usual mischief.
"The situation in the Western Cape requires the urgent attention of Safety and Security Minister Bheki Cele. I will try to discuss this issue with him at the earliest opportunity,” Jacobs said.
He said that the DA’s undermining of police officers was directed at those who had been members of Umkhonto we Sizwe.
“We have no reason to doubt their integrity or professionalism. Vearey represents a generation that not only took up arms for freedom, but that also became part of SAPS to build a police service to serve a democratic country. He and others must be respected.
"We will not stand idly by when the DA runs black operations against them. That’s why we want Minister Cele to intervene,” Jacobs said.
The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) has launched an investigation into allegations made against police officers accused of having links to gangs.
This comes after Colonel Charl Kinnear lodged a complaint in which he asked for an urgent investigation into crimes allegedly committed by six members of the provincial crime intelligence unit who are alleged to be linked to high-flying gangsters.
Kinnear is the investigating officer into the extortion case against Nafiz Modack, Colin Booysen, Ashley Fields, Jacques Cronje and Carl Lakay.
Ipid spokesperson Moses Dlamini said they would investigate the “various serious offences” that were received while their offices were closed.
“The complaint alleges serious offences, including extortion, defeating the ends of justice and systemic corruption. An analysis of the complaint was done to determine if the allegations fell within the mandate of the Ipid. A team co-ordinated from the national office has commenced investigations.
"The Ipid has also received a complaint from Western Cape Community Safety MEC Alan Winde against Major-General Jeremy Vearey. This complaint will be assigned to our Western Cape office for investigation,” Dlamini said.
Previously, top cop Vearey had slammed the “special operation” against him as a plot to defame and frame him in a smear campaign.
“(They) have been running a special operation for the past few years on the instruction of a general. This operation has expressed purpose to discredit me by manufacturing false allegations in order to affect (sic) arrest of myself with the co-operation of elements in the media for purposes of embarrassment.”
In his complaint, Kinnear said, the six officers he lodged a complaint against were “misusing state property and resources in a personal attack under the pretence that they were investigating Lieutenant-General Peter Jacobs, Vearey, Captain Althea Jeftha, Constable CV de Vries and myself (Kinnear)”.