Residents slam Cato Manor Police

Last month a group of Chesterville residents led by Nhlanhla Mtaka staged a protest march to the Cato Manor Police station to present a memorundum to the Station Commissioner. IZWI Community Newspaper has a copy of the memorundum, which reads as follows:-

We the bona fide residents of Greater Cato Manor, wish to register our dissatisfaction over the performance and conduct of police officers employed at the police station at issue. We wish to bring to your attention and that of the provincial heads of SAPS the fact that officers at the Cato Manor police station have proved, over a period of time (a number of years) that they do not have the interests of the respective community at heart. 1. This is manifested by the failure to act swiftly on drug trafficking, women abuse, violent murders, general crime and the recent taxi violence that is taking place in the area. The community also holds the professionalism of police officers at the very station in skepticism. The officers have showed traits of partialism when dealing with sensitive cases such as murder, rape etc.
2. The officials have also been implicated in corruption deals with perpetrators of crime. Officers at this station have also displayed signs of racism when dealing with reported crimes.
3. The main issues that has left much to be desired, which has also inspired the community to march against the activities of the officers, is the instance whereby violence at our taxi ranks has been deliberately allowed to carry on without police intervention. We view this in a very serious light because it implies nothing but the fact that African lives are not important and do not deserve protection by government facilities. We therefore call on the provincial heads of the SAPS to institute an independent inquiry into activities and interests of the officers at the Cato Manor Police Station. We also suggest that this be done at the earliest convenience to save lives of the commuters and the general public.

POLICE RESPONSE

Station Superintendent Nelson Govender of the Cato Manor Police Station, responded to the memorandum as follows:-
It is good that some one has the guts to criticise the police. It gives us the opportunity to take stock of our failures and achievements. Here is our response to the memorundum:
1. The memorundum is generalised in its entirety. However this office will deal with each issue stated as per 1-3 of the memorundum.
ISSUE 1: More than 200 cases of serious as well as general crimes have been opened. In 1999 alone we kept the courts busy. The most conviction on serious crime resulted in the accused being sentenced to 15 years imprisonment, and another case of housebreaking ended with a 6-year sentence being meted out to the accused. The list is endless.
ISSUE 2: This office is unaware of racism practised in the investigation or reporting of crimes. The detective service has 50% Indian and 50% Black members. Cases that involve blacks from the squatter settlement and Chesterville are often allocated to black members because of communication. This office will not tolerate corruption or any illegal activities by our members and no complaints were directed to this office to date.
ISSUE 3: This office has tried all