Madlanga must now probe Western Cape cop-gang links

THE Western Cape Police Ombudsman report into alleged gang infiltration of provincial SAPS should form part of the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry’s terms of reference, according to opposition parties in the provincial legislature. 

Western Cape Premier Alan Winde finally released the long-awaited report on Thursday following mounting pressure, having kept it away from the public for three years.  

Winde initiated the investigation after Western Cape High Court judge, Daniel Thulare’s raised the alarm in a scathing 2022 ruling, saying: “Evidence suggests that the senior management of the SAPS in the province has been penetrated to the extent that the 28 gang has access to the table where the Provincial Commissioner of the SAPS in the Western Cape sits with his senior managers and lead them in the study of crime”.

In the report, the Ombudsman concluded that a complaint of unacceptable behaviour against the provincial commissioner, and his senior management was found to be “substantiated on a balance of probabilities”. 

The Ombudsman noted that there were risks to the entire criminal justice system. 

“The safety of the current investigation team, witnesses, the Prosecutor, Magistrate, Judge and other officials involved in the prosecution of the 28 Mobster gang are at high risk. Since the arrest of the 14 accused, three witnesses have already been killed,” read the report with names redacted.  

It was recommended that a threat assessment be conducted for the entire investigation team and a request be submitted to the SAPS management for the necessary protection and the consideration of placing the high risk witnesses into the Witness Protection Programme of the NPA for their safety pending the testimony and evidence when the trial commences. 

“A request will be submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Provincial National Prosecutions Authority for threat assessments to be conducted for all officials associated with this 28 Mobster gang matter. A request will be submitted to the Judge President of the Western Cape for a threat assessment to be conducted for Hon, Thulare J. and other Magistrates who have and are going to deal with this case against the 28 Mobster gang,” the report read. 

At an October 31 meeting in 2022, the plan for the investigation was decided. 

During the investigation, the ombudsman consulted with the SAPS WC Anti-Gang Unit (Current Investigating Officer), the previous investigating officer, SAPS national head: Anti-Corruption Investigation Unit, the executive director of Independent Police Investigative Directive (IPID), the National Head - directorate for Priority Crimes Investigation {Hawks}, the acting national Commissioner SAPS, the national parliamentary portfolio committee hearing anonymous information and the Western Cape Provincial Community Policing Forum (CPF) Board. 

The SAPS were apparently not cooperative and did not deny, acknowledge or provide any comment to assist the investigation “except to indicate that the matter has been referred to the State Attorney for advice on the Judgement”. 

In his recommendations, the ombudsman gave Winde three options: he could call the provincial SAPS commissioner to account before cabinet and determine his future following a hearing. If the commissioner was non-cooperative, the premier could also write to the Minister of Police to have the commissioner transferred out of the Western Cape immediately and placed on compulsory leave, pending a full criminal and disciplinary investigation into the allegations, among others. 

The last option was to await the outcome of other investigations by Ipid and internal disciplinary proceedings, among others. 

Winde said he considered bringing Patekile before a hearing "inappropriate as the allegations emanated under his predecessor, and Lieutenant-General Patekile, was working in good faith with the provincial government, attending regular briefing sessions".

"I thus resolved to comply with the ombudman’s third recommended option, which entailed awaiting the outcomes of ongoing parallel investigations led by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) and the SAPS – bodies with the relevant authority to conduct full investigations into the allegations - before taking a decision on the way forward. However, we did not fold our arms at this point. We continued to place pressure on the relevant authorities to expedite these investigations," he said.

National Coloured Congress MPL John Michels said: "There will have to be action. (We are) sitting with the Madlanga Commission. Approach the president, get him involved in the violence on the Cape Flats, ask him to extend the scope to the Western Cape so that this corruption can also be investigated. To depend on IPID and the ombudsman (alone) will be a futile exercise." 

Echoing these remarks, GOOD party MPL Brett Herron said: "The remarks made by Judge Thulare in the bail application of two accused persons in 2022, which prompted the Premier to request an investigation by the Ombudsman, mirror the alleged collusion between police and criminals presently in the spotlight at the Madlanga Commission. The Commission’s terms of reference are sufficiently broad to demand that it look into the reasons for Judge Thulare believing that gangsters had infiltrated the police in the Western Cape and why the police and IPID have not investigated the matter."

Cape Times