Bishop Lavis residents plead for return of transferred cops effective in fighting gangsterism

John Maytham discusses residents' concerns with Bonteheuwel Ward Councillor Angus McKenzie.

Bishop Lavis in Cape Town is a community traumatised by violent crime.

Now, residents of both Bishop Lavis and neighbouring Bonteheuwel are demanding the return of two top commanders, after they were transferred to other police stations.

Colonel Mohamed and Colonel Africa, reportedly widely respected by locals, were moved to the Nyanga and Milnerton police stations more than three weeks ago.

The Bishop Lavis community policing forum (CPF) said that residents in the area are still traumatised by a recent mass killing.

Bishop Lavis CPF says residents still traumatised by recent mass shooting

The CPF and the area's sub-council chairperson, Councillor Angus McKenzie, have written an open letter to Western Cape police commissioner Thembisile Patekile, pleading for the return of the two transferred police commanders.

John Maytham discusses residents' concerns with McKenzie, who's the Bonteheuwel Ward Councillor.

McKenzie says that in fighting gangsterism, there was an earlier breakdown of trust between police and communities. When he first started out as a councillor, he goes on, he found these two officers that were open to engaging as to how to mend this relationship.

The results were clear, he says, because Bonteheuwel and that precinct became much safer areas thanks to this approach.

"There's a direct correlation between these two officers being removed and the violent increase of gangsterism, which we've seen happen now in Valhalla Park, where we're experiencing daily murders, and then Bishop Lavis, where we had these seven people murdered.

"When we remove people that have a strong knowledge of what's happening on the ground, and they're removed from the system overnight, you're going to create a void that becomes very difficult to fill over time."

Angus McKenzie, Ward Councillor - Bonteheuwel

McKenzie says the two officers have pursued the internal process around their transfers.

"We'll wait for that outcome and also continue with our efforts.

"These are the wishes of a UNITED community... It's the community as a whole that is requesting the SAPS to relook the decision they've made, but the police are seeing it more from a corporate point of view as opposed to a a humanitarian point of view."

Angus McKenzie, Ward Councillor - Bonteheuwel

Scroll up to hear McKenzie's detailed argument