“Where are the guns? The station commander must go!” These are the sentiments of angry Mitchells Plain residents as the local cop shop is again embroiled in a firearms scandal.
The Cape Flats Safety Forum along with residents gathered outside Mitchells Plain Police Station yesterday where they demanded answers.
The station was thrust into spotlight this week after it was revealed that 15 firearms and eight imitation weapons used in criminal activities had been stolen from the station’s SAP-13 storeroom last November.
A 30-year-old police officer stationed in the Mitchells Plain precinct was arrested and dismissed as a result.
Fourteen guns disappeared from the station in 2017, which prompted the suspension of then-station leader Brigadier Cass Goolam and five of his management team, who were dismissed but reinstated a year later.
On 8 January, a suspected Hard Livings gangster was arrested for attempted murder, armed robbery and the illegal possession of a firearm linked to the 2017 theft.
Abie Isaacs, chairperson of the Cape Flats Safety Forum and former Mitchells Plain Community Police Forum (CPF) chairperson says a thorough investigation should take place.
Isaacs says: “We cannot have a situation where firearms are continuously stolen and there is no real probe around the issues.”
Isaacs claims that the incident was kept quiet by current station commander Brigadier Jan Alexander despite the visit from authorities in December.A memorandum was handed over to Alexander by the forum demanding that he and his entire senior management team be suspended without pay.
Alexander signed the memorandum, but did not comment.
They also called for the disbandment of the current CPF, a lifestyle audit of all officers and requested that Goolam and his senior management be reinstated.
Norman Jantjies, chair- person of the CPF says that they were in the dark about the stolen firearms.
Jantjies says: “We heard in the corridors about the missing guns.
“We never knew about it. We are disappointed in the station management.”
Beacon Valley resident, pastor Dean Ramjoomia added that the weapons are already circulating on the Cape Flats.
A member of the Hard Livings gang was caught earlier this month with a police firearm at the Mitchell’s Plain station in 2017.
“The new batch is already in circulation, which is very perturbed in terms of the chain of distribution,” Ramjoomia said.