Newly-appointed Western Cape police commissioner Thembisile Patekile has recommitted to work around the clock in efforts of addressing the issues of crime in the province which include paying more attention to gangsterism and extortion as well as GBV.
Just a day after he was appointed as the leader of Western Cape SAPS to earn a promotion to the rank of a Lt Gen, Patekile wasted no time to hit the ground running on the following day on Friday morning 02 July 2021, he was at the house of Western Cape premier Allan Winde, where he was introduced as the new PC.
He was introduced by late Lt Gen Sindile Mfazi. Later on that day, his diary scheduled him to 35 Squadron in Belhar to welcome the 3rd Lockdown police-members.
Still fresh from his new appointment, Patekile told members in Belhar in no uncertain terms that they should go out there to make the organisation and the community they serve proud.
His marching orders were that they should serve the public with honour and dignity and avoid anything that would make public complained about them.
He said the members should emulate the 2nd Lockdown deployment group which have serve Western Cape community with professionalism and integrity and there were no complaints at all from the members of the community.
During a digital media briefing at the Premier house earlier in the morning, Gen Patekile who was flanked by Premier Allan Winde, Community Safety MEC Albert Fritz and Lt Gen Mfazi he has made it clear that he would focus on eight identified police stations that contribute about 45% of contact crimes in the province.
Outlining his detailed plans, he revealed that the police would immediately conduct social interventions with the communities in those areas.
Among other things, he said they will pay a great deal of attention on the prevalence of firearms in the province as a matter of urgency.
“We will take on crime syndicates, in a systematic and scientific approach and take them down. We are going to take the entire gang enterprise down. We’ve already started. If we take the top guys, we collapse the organisations.” Patekile said.
In his plan, he listed murder, GBV, armed robberies and carjackings as one of the main areas of concern to the eight identified police stations. He said the police resources would be systematically deployed.
He also pointed out that he would tackle socio-economic crimes including land invasions, taxi-violence, counterfeit goods, and the burning of trucks as these lead to the stagnation of the economy.