Cele to prioritise W Cape for resources

POLICE Minister Bheki Cele says he and national police commissioner Khehla Sitole have agreed to prioritise the Western Cape in terms of police personnel as well as resource allocation.

Cele described the Western Cape as a “capital of gangsterism and murder”.

“We know that the Western Cape‚ for now‚ is the capital of murder in the Republic of South Africa. It’s the capital of gangsterism‚ besides the other things like poaching of marine resources‚” said Cele.

“Everybody is working together to find out (solutions to) what we are supposed to do.”

He held a police imbizo in Philippi-East to deal with residents’ safety concerns.

“There are places under stress in terms of policing and there are those that can live with few resources. We need to work on a plan and prioritise it,” Cele said.

He said in two weeks he would announce how to prioritise police resources on a national level.

The Social Justice Coalition (SJC), Equal Education and the Nyanga Community Policing Forum (CPF) took the SAPS to court in a bid to ensure police direct more resources to poor areas with high crime levels, instead of affluent areas with low levels.

Yesterday, the SJC said the SAPS made major concessions on the issue of police resources during a presentation to the portfolio committee on police (PCoP).

“In calling for presentations, the portfolio committee wanted greater insight into how 194 605 SAPS personnel were allocated to and between national, provincial and cluster offices and, ultimately and importantly, to the 1 144 police stations across the country.

“Members of the Social Justice Coalition (SJC), SAPS representatives and police unions Sapu and Popcru were invited to make presentations to the PCoP on issues regarding the fixed establishment of police stations.

“The police’s fixed establishment is the number of personnel employed by the service. In the SAPS’ 2016/2017 annual report the size of its fixed establishment stood at 194 605 personnel,” said the organisation.

Cele said he was aware of a spat involving two high-ranking police officers in the Western Cape, major-generals Jeremy Vearey and Patrick Mbotho, for control of the detectives, and the matter was “on the table”.

This matter has resulted in a labour dispute in the Western Cape High Court.

Cele helped police conduct roadblocks and raid shebeens.