Springs South African Police Service commander Brig Jeshop Shabangu – ‘weakest link in fight against crime
Sept 2010’:
Springs SAPS commander Brig. Jeshop Shabangu on 20 Sept 2010 was still taken to task by the local Citizen-Policing-Forum – who put a vote of no confidence against him after he had failed to replace the VEC-centre’s officer while she went on maternity leave.
Trauma-victims dockets not opened
The CPF-volunteers running the Victim Empowerment Centre (VEC) at the Springs Police Station accused the station-commander of not replacing the VEC-centre’s police-cordinator after she went on maternity leave. Thus trauma-victims’ dockets were not being opened and the rape-and violence cases against them not investigated.
CPF chairman Paulos Dube accused Brig Shabangu of having made no effort to replace the officer. In a letter addressed to the National Commissioner , the Minister and Deputy Minister of Police, the CPF listed a number of allegations – stating that they were receiving no support from Brig Shabangu or the Springs police.
They noted that while VEC volunteers still assisted police with rape- or domestic violence cases, its secretary Judith Williamson felt that they could do so much more. Dube agreed, saying the ‘value of the VEC to the community was immeasurable; and that the support they offered to victims of rape and domestic violence gave the police a better chance of making an arrest.
Shabangu did not consider rape and domestic assaults as crimes?
Shabangu disagreed, complaining that his police-station only had twelve police-vehicles, that they were ‘understaffed and our main core function was crime prevention, something we have to focus on first.”
Springs’ policing is divided into six sectors; each sector has two vehicles which patrol 24/7. Shabangu also was accused of having chased away a group of foreign Grootvlei miners after they had applied for signed affidavits from the police in order to renew their work permits. The CPF said ‘they could have been helped by the police.” However, Shabangu claimed that the ‘miners were asking the police to do something illegal, namely to extend their work permits’.
http://www.looklocal.co.za/looklocal/content/en/springs/springs-news-general?oid=113243&sn=Detail&pid=490323&Springs-Station-commander-voted-the-weakest-link-by-CPF
