The ministry of Community Safety have raised their concern about the alleged disbanding of policing cluster teams in the Western Cape.  Speaking to VOC, Spokesperson for the Western Cape Community Safety, Ewald Botha, explains that the situation is worrying because such major changes are being made without properly informing them and no reason has been given for it.

The Western Cape government, however, will support any reasonable and responsible changes that concerns policing units, this is the reason they seek urgent answers from the South African Police Service (SAPS), said Botha.

These rumours have spread once before. Earlier this year,  Minister Daniel Plato had questioned the police on what this operation deployment meant for the different specialized teams.

Botha confirmed that a response came from the provincial SAPS management and stated that operation combat was still an operation, which was received with much appreciation.

“These rumours that are being spread, we believe could destroy the trust in the community and hinder our ability to protect the residence. And this is why we are asking for the SAPS management to quell these rumours to deplete the fear people might have,” Botha said.

VOC (Ammarah Qureshi]