New police heads for troublesome stations
RESIDENTS in Gugulethu and Mfuleni are hopeful that new police station heads will make an impact in their communities that are in the grip of violent crime.
Provincial police commissioner Thembisile Patekile, joined by other top management officials, conferred ranks on newly appointed senior officers who included Brigadier Khuthala Masakala as the new Gugulethu station commander, Brigadier Tamsanqa Tito for the Mfuleni station, and Brigadier John Alexander to lead the Kraaifontein station.
The appointments came into effect on August 1.
Patekile said the appointments were in the interest of service delivery and concerted efforts to create safer communities.
In statistics released in February for the third quarter, Mfuleni led as the murder hot spot in the province with 80 people slain and the second-highest nationally, while Gugulethu recorded 73 people killed, placing it No 2 in the province. Both areas also made it to the top 10 stations in the country for mass shootings.
Mfuleni Community Policing Forum (CPF) deputy chairperson France Mashaba said they were informed by the former acting station commander that Tito, a former head of the Milnerton SAPS, has been appointed.
“We were briefed about the new leader and as the CPF we welcome him and hope for a fruitful relationship because this community needs that.
“We are hoping he ... has an opendoor policy when it comes to community structures because they know the issues on the ground. We are hoping for a new crime strategy. While Milnerton is not like Mfuleni, it has areas like Dunoon that share some of the issues we have here,” said Mashaba.
He said extortion and hijacking were among the crimes reported in the area.
Gugulethu CPF’s Linda Kabeni said the appointment of Masakala as a brigadier meant that the station would no longer be classified as a colonel station.
“In April, top national officials including the former minister were here for an imbizo. The area received a new acting station commander. He praised Masakala and highly recommended her. We welcome our new leader and look forward not only to her crime-prevention strategy but implementation as well because we are under siege in Gugulethu.
“Our previous contest was the station being reduced to a colonel station, meaning it is considered like those ... police stations that do not deal with high and serious violent crime.
“This also meant we could not receive the amount of resources the area deserved. We have four sectors and each had one police vehicle. Even when this decision was taken, there were no consultations with us, while the community is dealing with robbery and mass shootings and extortion-related crimes,” said Kabeni.
He said that most e-hailing drivers had also stopped working in the area.
Masakala was previously a commander at Da Gamaskop, where the local CPF congratulated her.
“We were honoured to have you at Da Gamaskop. We wish you all the best,” it said.