Cape Times Breakfast with Jeremy Vearey

WESTERN CAPE top cop Major General Jeremy Vearey has poured cold water on the DA’s call for the army to be deployed on the Cape Flats.

The deputy head of detectives in the province was speaking at the Cape Times Breakfast yesterday at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) Hotel School where he delivered the keynote address speaking about his book Jeremy Vannie Elsies and how Elsies River, Nyanga and Khayelitsha are the townships currently affected by gang violence and gang fights.

The DA has been slammed for “politicising” the issue of bringing the army to the Cape Flats to quell gang violence.

“When we look at this, we are not looking at it broadly enough. During the 1980s there were youth movements where there was lots of positive peer experiences that countered what the gangs offered.

“During that time there was an informal social contract where parents took responsibility of one watching the other’s child. There was a collective ordering without the police. There is no longer a collective responsibility.

‘‘We need to create a counter power to what is happening on the streets… But bringing in the army fails constantly.

“There are many lessons to be learnt from the 1980s. Bringing in the army and the troops should not happen,” he said.

The DA’s Mmusi Maimane recently led a march from Manenberg to Nyanga calling for the army to be deployed in areas affected by gang violence.

But DA provincial spokesperson Odette Cason said the deployment of the army was not a long-term solution. “Ultimately what is needed is proper police resources from the national government… Our call for the army to be deployed is to deal with the criminal element,” Cason said.

In his book, Vearey tells readers about his time as a toddler, his imprisonment on Robben Island, work at the ANC intelligence wing as well as time spent with Nelson Mandela.

Vearey, described by Judge Siraj Desai as the most progressive policeman in the world, said the lack of youth movements was part of what was missing in the solutions to quell gang violence.

Commenting on the use of Afrikaaps in the Elsies River context, Vearey said. “If we look at the current environment of Afrikaans, it is narrowly seen. We need to understand that Afrikaaps was revolutionary… it is a language that is organic and grew from its people.”

Pictures: Ayanda Ndamane/ African News Agency (ANA) CAPTIVATED: The audience hang on to Major General Jeremy Vearey’s every word at the Cape Times Breakfast at the CPUT Hotel School yesterday.

BOOK SIGNING: Major General Jeremy Vearey signed his book for Aziza Amod. In his book Vearey tells the story of how his neighbourhood and family raised him, from a rough-and-tumble youngster to the head of the anti-gang unit in the Western Cape.

HOT SEAT: Major General Jeremy Vearey and Cape Times Editor Aneez Salie field questions during the Cape Times Breakfast at the CPUT Hotel School in Granger Bay yesterday.

STALWARTS: Major General Jeremy Vearey and Western Cape High Court Judge Siraj Desai at the breakfast. Desai described Vearey as the “most progressive policeman in the world”.

HOSPITALITY: Mandisa Silo head of the CPUT Hotel School speaks to guests who were hosted at the scenic Granger Bay campus.

ENGAGING CONVERSATION: Acting assistant editor Liesl van der Schyff speaks at the event.

POLICE TALK: The audience were all ears, listening to the stories Major General Jeremy Vearey from Elsies River shared.