WATCH: Residents of Maitland call for police action as crime rates soar
Western Cape police commissioner Thembisile Patekile has been given 14 days to respond to a memorandum of demands handed over by the Maitland Ratepayers and Residents Association and ward councillor, demanding SAPS management and stagnant staff at the station be removed as crime increases.
Last night the residents and councilor Cheslyn Steenberg marched to the Maitland police station armed with placards and their memorandum.
Just last month, they went public with their complaints in the Cape Argus, highlighting how staff locked the gates of the station at night and there was a lack of available vans and responses to complaints.
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Their complaints have since been escalated to Patekile’s office and that of Police Oversight and Community MEC, Anroux Marias.
Steenberg handed over the memorandum to a representative of Patekile’s office, in which he warned of legal action if there was no response.
“We are very clear on our demand, we want feedback within 14 days,” he said.
“We have employed the services of a legal practitioner, if we do not get feedback within the 14 days, which means we have to call on the the Western Cape High Court to get SAPS, but we do not want to do that, we want to allow them to give us the faith we still have in them.”
The representative from Patekile’s office promised feedback and said: “What I can make sure, within 14 days we will respond to you and draft an action plan and who is responsible and you will get the feedback.”
The key concerns include minimal visible policing, uncontrolled crime, expanding drug trade and increasing crime, and lack of accountability.
Residents have demanded the immediate removal of current Maitland SAPS station commander and management team, transfer or redeployment of ineffective or resistant long-standing staff, and the return of Colonel Solomons and Captain van der Heever.
They are also calling for a full review of operational performance and a public report-back including a fresh start in community-police relations, reinstating a visible, accountable, community-oriented policing model and the immediate and tangible reinstatement of sector policing.
Marais promised to meet and carry out another oversight visit at the station and had shared the community’s concerns with Patekile’s office.
Sunday, Kurt Nefdt, spokesperson for Marias’s office said they would be following up with police management on their progress and intervention following earlier complaints.
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Cape Argus