Police chief forced into an about-turn
July 12 2013 at 10:30am
By Murray Williams
By Murray Williams
Greg Maxwell
Arno Lamoer
Cape Town - Western Cape police
commissioner Arno Lamoer has climbed down after accusing Community Safety MEC
Dan Plato of lying.
But Lamoer has refused to apologise,
instead obliquely apologising for a “misperception”.
The conflict began when Plato on Wednesday
presented damning statistics showing a dire shortage of police at many of Cape
Town’s worst crime suburbs. Plato reported his numbers came from Lamoer’s
office “after an official request”.
But in the Cape Times on Thursday,
Lamoer was quoted accusing Plato of “lying”, saying: “I never gave him
anything. He’s lying.” And: “I don’t know where he got it from.”
Community Safety MEC Dan Plato
responded by showing the Cape Argus the actual letter he had been sent,
presented on a SAPS letterhead, signed and dated by the provincial
commissioner’s office. The subject line reads: “Police to population ratios.”
Plato demanded “a full apology for the
slanderous comments against me”.
“The people of the Western Cape deserve
to know what is happening in terms of their safety, and our hard working police
officers need the support and necessary resources to do their jobs more
effectively, without it they too are vulnerable,” Plato said.
“Section 206 of the South African
constitution states that each province is entitled to oversee the effectiveness
and the efficiency of the police service, including receiving reports on the
police service,” Plato said.
Presented at midday on Thursday with
Plato’s proof that he had indeed been sent official information, Lamoer did an
apparent about-turn. A statement from provincial police spokesman Andre Traut
read: “Documentation referred to in media articles in this regard was never
sanctioned by the Provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant-General Arno Lamoer.
These documents were supplied to the office of the MEC by the office of one of
his deputy provincial commissioners during his absence on vacation leave.”
In the statement, Lamoer did not
apologise to Plato, but Traut said, instead: “The office of the Western Cape
Police Provincial Commissioner would like to apologise for the misperception
created in recent media reports regarding the police/population ratios. The
figures however were quoted out of context and is not a true reflection of the
current state of affairs.
“The Western Cape Police would like to
assure the community that we have adequate resources to render an affective
service in this province.”
The Cape Argus asked for a full
explanation of the “true reflection of the current state of affairs”, but Traut
responded: “This office will not be elaborating on the figures. The matter will
be a topic of discussion between the provincial commissioner and the MEC after
which a further statement will be issued.”
Cape Argus
http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/police-chief-forced-into-an-about-turn-1.1545833#.Ufacu9LLreA
