Officers from northern areas overlooked for top SAPS jobs

Dear General Bheki Cele (national police minister),

It’s with utter shock and disdain that GOOD has come to learn of the proposed expulsion of the most senior SAPS officials in the Eastern Cape namely Ronald Koll, Leonie Bentley and Lawrence Soekoe (The Herald, April 30).

Combined, these officials have more then a hundred years’ experience.

Nelson Mandela Bay metro and the northern areas in particular pride themselves in these crime fighters that hail from the dusty roads of the northerns.

These officials have triumphed over poverty and crime of our areas to become top cops in their own right.

It’s been a long time coming that racism is brewing in the SA Police Service.

Coloured officers in particular have been complaining for many years that unqualified black officers, especially from the former Transkei, are placed in positions that they are not qualified for.

It can only be assumed that this is part of the ANC’s cadre deployment policy.

All this is done at the expense of safety and security.

I was reliably informed that a woman sergeant was promoted to the position of captain in the firearms section.

When a certain civilian went to hand in his firearm, the newly appointed captain allegedly did not even know how to complete the form.

We hereby call upon you, Gen Cele, as the national minister of police, to investigate the following in the province of the Eastern Cape:

1. Whether the SAPS complies with the employment equity regulations;

2. If all senior officials are suitably qualified; and

3. How many officers are on sick leave due to stress because of alleged racism in the workplace?

Many coloured officers have resigned from the SAPS because of frustration for continuously being overlooked for promotion.

One such person willing to speak is a long-serving officer who I know.

After suffering years of discrimination for being coloured, he eventually threw in the towel and left the SAPS.

The morale among most coloured police officers is very low because they have to work under ANC-deployed police officers, many from the former Transkei area, less qualified than them, and still have to teach the newly promoted individuals how to do their jobs.

We call upon the minister to urgently intervene in this matter as this can cause racial tension in our community.