On Tuesday, 30 August 2019, the Minister of Community Safety, Albert Fritz, received the report on the ‘Complaint of Poor Response’ at the Gansbaai, Kleinmond, Hermanus and Stanford SAPS stations from the Western Cape Police Ombudsman, Mr JJ Brand. Amongst the criminal activities plaguing the Overstand is the poaching of abalone.
The Western Cape Police Ombudsman seeks to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the police services and to improve relations between the police and the communities by investigating complaints of police inefficiency and/or a breakdown of relations between the police and any community. It is an impartial and independent body created in terms of Section 206 of the Constitution.
Minister Fritz said, “The complaint about police inefficiencies in the areas was found by the police ombudsman to be substantiated. The Western Cape Police Ombudsman has now submitted his report to me in my capacity as the Minister of Community Safety as per the requirements set out in Section 17(8) of the Western Cape Community Safety Act, 2013,”
The following recommendations were made in the report, which I will give effect to:
1. Escalate the findings to the National Minister of Police
It was suggested that the matter be urgently referred to the Minister of Police, Bheki Cele, to address the poor police to population ratio and vehicle allocations for detectives in the Overberg cluster.
The following recommendations were also made with reference to abalone poaching:
2. Refer findings to the Standing Committee for Community Safety at the Western Cape Provincial Parliament
It was recommended that the current policing model be referred to the relevant Standing Committee as well as the approach taken by the province to determine whether sector policing is still applied in the Western Cape. This should be studied in line with the judgement in Social Justice Coalition and Others V Minister of Police and Others (EC03/2016) [2018] ZAWCHC 181 (14 December 2018).
Minister Fritz said, “This report will be presented to the Provincial Standing Committee on Community Safety who will further review the report as per the Constitutional powers of such a multi-party committee. The Standing Committee may also call on any SAPS members to appear before it to further explain and account for the findings made by the Police Ombudsman.”
3. Recommendations directed to the Western Cape Government Departments
The recommendations further requested that:
Minister Fritz said, “I would like to thank the Ombudsman for sharing these insightful recommendations which are rooted in empirical evidence. I will work closely with the necessary stakeholders to ensure that these recommendations are reviewed and implemented.”
Under the leadership of Minister Albert Fritz, the Department of Community Safety will continue to use every tool at its disposal to safeguard rural and urban communities in the Western Cape against poaching of any kind.
Attention broadcasters, please find English audio clip attached.
Cayla Ann Tomás Murray
Spokesperson for Minister Albert Fritz
Tel: 021 483 8550
Cell: 064 121 7959
Email: Cayla.murray@westerncape.gov.za