Months after the conviction of two gang leaders and extortionists, and a scathing court judgment highlighting possible links between Khayelitsha cops and gangsters, police management were expected to meet with top brass at the station this week.
Months after the conviction of two gang leaders and extortionists, and a scathing court judgment highlighting possible links between Khayelitsha cops and gangsters, police management were expected to meet with top brass at the station this week.
The engagement follows a judgment by Western Cape High Court Judge Daniel Thulare involving Gupta gang leaders Gcinithemba Beja and Fundile Maseti, as the trial pointed to a breakdown of community confidence in the SAPS.
The duo were convicted in November last year and sentenced last month to serve seven life terms each.
During Beja and Maseti’s trial, State witness testified of a shooting that happened at a tavern, in Site B in Khayelitsha on March 7, 2020. “Mr X saw some of the police members, who he knew as those who informed The Guptas, keeping themselves busy around him and the Muslim detective when he and others were at the police station to report what they saw... It is the reason why other witnesses, who initially went with Mr X to the police to report what they had seen, did not return... One of those police officers told Mr X that Mr X liked the police station... Mampintsha, Phiri and Lunga met Mr X in the township and asked Mr X what he was doing at the police station.
At that stage, clearly they did not yet know that he had made a statement. Once they knew, obviously told by a member of the SAPS, the Guptas immediately started looking for Mr X in the township. The search went so far as some unknown men visiting his relatives in a rural village in the Eastern Cape the next day to look for Mr X there. This demonstrates how far the network and influence of the extortionists in Khayelitsha stretch,” the judgment read.
SAPS spokesperson, Novela Potelwa, said they noted with concern the assertions made in Judge Thulare’s judgment.
“In the course of studying the judgment delivered on April 18, the SAPS legal officials could not help but also note with concern assertions in the judgment emanating from the court case of alleged collusion between the ‘Guptas’ group and some police officials in Khayelitsha. It is on this basis that a meeting between the SAPS legal services, provincial detectives and Khayelitsha police management is scheduled to deal with the concerning assertions made.
“Fostering, nurturing and sustaining strong relations between the SAPS and the communities it serves remain key in efforts to curb and solve crime.
Hence it is vital that SAPS management gets to the bottom of the damning claims referred to in the judgment,” said Potelwa.
Western Cape CPF chairperson, Fransina Lukas called on the SAPS to “clean up” their police stations.
“It is quite sad and very disappointing that some in the police service are continuing to be in the pockets of criminals who are holding our communities hostage and in the grip of fear.
“The actions of corrupt officers adversely affect the relationship we as CPF are trying to build and maintain between our communities and the police.”
Cape Times