Police under pressure in Western Cape

AS THE Western Cape continues to stare down the barrel of nonstop bloodshed, innocent people, including children, all too often ending up dead because of it.

- BRANDON NEL and WENDY DONDOLO

Calls for Western Cape Police Commissioner Thembisile Patekile to step down grow louder.

Lieutenant General Thembisile Patekile is not about to up and leave his more than R1 million-a-year job anytime soon, as he said yesterday that he now wants to work very hard to make the province safer.

And he has a “comprehensive policing strategy” up his sleeve to do just that, he said.

“As the provincial commissioner of the Western Cape, I undertake to work with all other legitimate stakeholders within the province whose objective is to create safety in communities,” he said.

But experts and community leaders are not convinced, saying it was far too little, too late.