Why Eastern Cape police boss must resign
 |
| Nomthetheleli Mene |
But as former South African president and uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) leader, Jacob Zuma, once said, ours is a “funny democracy”.
Which could explain why Msholozi (Zuma's clan name), addressing school pupils in Thembisa in July 2016, had to beg South Africans to allow him six full months as a dictator to solve the country's socio-economic crisis, pleading: "If you just give me six months to be a dictator, things will be straight."
How does Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane sleep at night when crime is on steroids in the province, or even explain Nqatha’s continued leadership – or lack thereof – when, under his watch, 18 relatives were massacred in cold blood at Ngobozana village in the coastal town of Lusikisiki recently. Families have been routinely killed by gunmen in Lusikisiki for years now and the provincial government has done nothing about it.
It has become business as usual, with politicians visiting grieving family members in their expensive SUVs and waxing lyrical about how no stone would be left unturned in their quest to bring the perpetrators to book. A low-budget PR exercise if you ask me.
Just on Sunday night, six members of the community policing forum were gunned down and four injured at Godini village in Qumbu. And the silence from the meek national police commissioner General Fannie Masemola is deafening. Nqatha and Mene have failed dismally in ensuring the province’s 7-million-plus residents live in safe and peaceful farms, villages, townships, suburbs and cities where criminals get locked up and keys thrown in the ocean.
The province, which has been without a crime intelligence head for almost a year now, has become a safe haven for extortionists, cash-in-transit robbers, rapists, fraudsters, murderers and other low life thugs who have deliberately gone out of their way to make life a living hell for law-abiding citizens.
Mene was described as a “highly decorated and experienced leader who started her career in 1984 in the Eastern Cape province”, when she was appointed as provincial commissioner in December 2021.
While this means Mene’s experience in the police service spans four decades, it counts for nothing as she continues to wage a losing battle against the crime scourge in one of SA’s most impoverished provinces.
In a media statement dated 13 December 2021, announcing Mene’s new gig, provincial police spokesperson, Brigadier Thembinkosi Kinana, wrote: “She [Mene] urged her management to journey with her during the five-year marathon against crime in the Eastern Cape. She made it clear that her sights are particularly set on the identified national pandemic of Gender Based Violence and Femicide, gangsterism, corruption and other prevalent crimes in every sphere of society.”
It appears Mene has fixed her sights elsewhere and not on any crime fighting efforts, otherwise I would not be wasting ink to highlight how bad she is at her job, which brings me to the constitution, which guarantees the safety and security of all who live in the republic.
Chapter 11 of the constitution (dealing with security services) states that if the provincial commissioner has lost the confidence of the provincial legislature - which I believe she has, depending on who you listen to - “that executive may institute appropriate proceedings for the removal or transfer of, or disciplinary action against, that commissioner, in accordance with national legislation”.
There you have it, Mabuyane, your executive could - but it won't - take steps to remove the deadwood provincial police commissioner, instead of wanting the easy way out of the crime situation that has engulfed every fabric of society, as we know it.
The constitution states that each province is entitled:
It appears Mene has fixed her sights elsewhere and not on any crime fighting efforts, otherwise I would not be wasting ink to highlight how bad she is at her job, which brings me to the constitution, which guarantees the safety and security of all who live in the republic.
Chapter 11 of the constitution (dealing with security services) states that if the provincial commissioner has lost the confidence of the provincial legislature - which I believe she has, depending on who you listen to - “that executive may institute appropriate proceedings for the removal or transfer of, or disciplinary action against, that commissioner, in accordance with national legislation”.
There you have it, Mabuyane, your executive could - but it won't - take steps to remove the deadwood provincial police commissioner, instead of wanting the easy way out of the crime situation that has engulfed every fabric of society, as we know it.
The constitution states that each province is entitled:
- to monitor police conduct,
- to oversee the effectiveness and efficiency of the police service, including receiving reports on the police service,
- to promote good relations between the police and the community,
- to assess the effectiveness of visible policing, and
- to liaise with the cabinet member responsible for policing with respect to crime and policing in the province.
Now that Mene and Nqatha have failed in their mandates of fighting crime in the province, is it not time the national government intervened?
According to section 100 of the constitution the national executive can issue a directive to the province with specific steps that must be taken by the province to meet their obligations (this is section 100(1)(a)). Under section 100(b) the national executive can take over the province’s function under certain circumstances, aimed at maintaining the provision of service delivery and national security, among others.
Those bumbling decisionmakers in Pretoria could actually place Nqatha’s department under administration if they wanted to. In fact, this is the language the community safety MEC seems to understand well.
Who could forget? When Nqatha was Eastern Cape’s cooperative governance and traditional affairs MEC, he excitedly moved with speed wanting to place the Nelson Mandela Bay metro in Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth) under administration in 2020. His enthusiasm was curbed when the DA set its attorneys on him.
This was during a time when the province's largest metro was grappling with political instability following the 2016 local government elections in which there was no clear winner.
I feel that police minister Senzo Mchunu inherited a poisoned chalice when he took over the reins from the bumbling Bheki Cele, who was hauled over the coals for his insensitive remarks in 2022 that a 19-year-old woman was “lucky” to be raped by one criminal while others were raped by 10 men.
Mchunu seems to have a good head on his shoulders and understands the magnitude of the task at hand. He has been frank about the crime situation in the country and what needs to be done. He has been entering into cooperation agreements with provincial and local government structures with the aim of “enhancing collaboration and coordination among all stakeholders in the country to address safety and security concerns effectively”.
Mchunu, who is the former water & sanitation minister, took to social media recently, posting: “As a ministry we remain committed to ensuring that South Africans are and feel safe.” He has also moved to assure the families of the 18 victims killed in Lusikisiki that those behind this heinous crime would be brought to book to face the long arm of the law.
Mchunu looks equal to the task. He has been talking tough lately, and I hope it’s not going to be another five years of all bark and no bite, that characterised Cele’s disastrous tenure at the helm.
According to section 100 of the constitution the national executive can issue a directive to the province with specific steps that must be taken by the province to meet their obligations (this is section 100(1)(a)). Under section 100(b) the national executive can take over the province’s function under certain circumstances, aimed at maintaining the provision of service delivery and national security, among others.
Those bumbling decisionmakers in Pretoria could actually place Nqatha’s department under administration if they wanted to. In fact, this is the language the community safety MEC seems to understand well.
Who could forget? When Nqatha was Eastern Cape’s cooperative governance and traditional affairs MEC, he excitedly moved with speed wanting to place the Nelson Mandela Bay metro in Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth) under administration in 2020. His enthusiasm was curbed when the DA set its attorneys on him.
This was during a time when the province's largest metro was grappling with political instability following the 2016 local government elections in which there was no clear winner.
I feel that police minister Senzo Mchunu inherited a poisoned chalice when he took over the reins from the bumbling Bheki Cele, who was hauled over the coals for his insensitive remarks in 2022 that a 19-year-old woman was “lucky” to be raped by one criminal while others were raped by 10 men.
Mchunu seems to have a good head on his shoulders and understands the magnitude of the task at hand. He has been frank about the crime situation in the country and what needs to be done. He has been entering into cooperation agreements with provincial and local government structures with the aim of “enhancing collaboration and coordination among all stakeholders in the country to address safety and security concerns effectively”.
Mchunu, who is the former water & sanitation minister, took to social media recently, posting: “As a ministry we remain committed to ensuring that South Africans are and feel safe.” He has also moved to assure the families of the 18 victims killed in Lusikisiki that those behind this heinous crime would be brought to book to face the long arm of the law.
Mchunu looks equal to the task. He has been talking tough lately, and I hope it’s not going to be another five years of all bark and no bite, that characterised Cele’s disastrous tenure at the helm.
The Lusikisiki matter has been going on for quite some time, I remember there was a time where affected people left their homes bayobhaca kumahlathi akufutshane. Lilishwa into ene EC norhulumente olawulawo shame.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, it's been happening for a very long time and the powers that be could not be bothered! They are probably giving the Lusikisiki matter another couple of weeks before it dies down so they could focus their energies on what matters the most - their own selfish interests!
Delete