Cape Town - A Steenburg councillor has sounded the alarm on what she calls gross misconduct after she discovered important documents and material belonging to the local police dumped.
Marita Petersen said her horrid discovery included used rape kits, torn SAPS documents and other documents containing personal information of people from the area.
“What I found there should not have been dumped like that,” she said. “There were DNA samples, used rape kits, torn documents and personal information belonging to residents I know.”
She said she also saw a copy of a driving licence belonging to someone she knew.
“I have been living in the area for over a decade. I know people around here and I saw their information in that dumping site.”
The councillor said she tried bringing this to the attention of the police but was met with disdain.
“The colonel simply showed no interest in what I said and I explained that what happened is a gross violation of human rights. Waste like documents should be shredded.”
Steenberg CPF spokesperson Leanne Reid said they were also made aware by the councillor of items allegedly dumped by the SAPS found at the rubbish dump.
“The matter was referred to Steenberg SAPS station management to investigate and resolve. We recommend that the press contacts SAPS PC Comms for further information.”
Police spokesperson Colonel Andrè Traut said they are investigating and denied that important documents were part of the rubbish discovered by the councillor.
“Once this process has been finalised, this office will be in a far better position to provide further comment regarding the matter.
Our preliminary investigation revealed that no case dockets were among the waste material that was found discarded, however, further investigation into the circumstances is still under way.”
Weekend Argus