Vearey talks about policing and politics

AXED former head of Western Cape detectives Major General Jeremy Vearey has given insight into the operations of organised crime syndicates.

Vearey was guest speaker at the Cape Town Press Club this week where he spoke about his book, Into Dark Water.

Vearey shared his experiences as a former MK soldier, being a bodyguard for the late president Nelson Mandela and joining the police.

Vearey said he had stood firm as a senior police officer, never allowing politics to influence or corrupt him.

He detailed how organised crime syndicates control the Western Cape and how he believes senior officers dance to the tune of politicians.

“I am not the kind of person you will approach, and I think it is the kind of thing throughout my career that got me into trouble. No matter who the politicians are, whether it was DA or ANC, I absolutely refused to allow them to exceed their powers (or) their influence over me.

“That is where we find ourselves today; where a police commissioner will feel comfortable sitting at a caucus with a party and giving a perspective. It doesn’t matter who they do it for, whether they do it for the DA or ANC, they could find it comfortable to go there and allow himself to be used for party political positioning.”

Vearey said another challenge was policing tapping into organised crime syndicates which they were not prepared for.

“The type of syndicates we faced, were the kind when where you go to work one morning when you open your boot there is R100 000 in it.”

Vearey didn’t shy away from speaking about the dark past of Beaufort West mayor, Gayton Mckenzie.

He said as a police officer he still viewed him as a gang member.

McKenzie, a motivational speaker and businessperson, is open about his criminal past which included armed robbery and being involved in the “Numbers” gang.

“Some of them (gangsters) are beginning to think of themselves politically. I remember the Hard Livings wanted to avenge themselves as a civic organisation.

“Some went to form political parties, but I still see him as a 26 gang ‘Major’. That is the thing; as a cop, you always see things through that cynical way we look at the world.”

Last week, Weekend Argus revealed that the South African Communist Party had submitted a complaint against Mckenzie, that he had misrepresented and undermined the municipality. Mckenzie at the time rejected the claims.