DA calls for SAPS management to disclose details of instruction to remove De Lange

21 June 2018

The Democratic Alliance is shocked to learn that Gauteng SAPS Commissioner Lieutenant-General, Deliwe de Lange, has been instructed to leave her post.

This is concerning as the people of Gauteng have not been furnished reasons for the sudden instruction for the Provincial Commissioner to vacate her post two years before her planned retirement.

Gauteng is plagued by crime and we cannot afford a situation where there is a leadership vacuum in SAPS. The people of Gauteng confronted with rising crimes such as cash-in-transit heists, mall robberies, murders and attempted murders.

I am concerned that this move further undermines the stability, and overall effectiveness, of the province’s police service.

Such organizational flux puts the lives and safety of all our people at risk.

I am calling on the MEC for Community Safety, Sizakele Nkosi-Malobane, to liaise with her counterparts at a national level to appoint a new Commissioner as a matter of urgency, and to ensure that the proper vetting procedures are followed.

Gauteng needs a Police Commissioner who puts the people first and is committed to eradicating corruption at all levels of SAPS.

The people of Gauteng deserve order and safety in their Province. The people of Gauteng deserve the change where the SAPS is well-resourced, equipped, trained and professionally staffed. Only the DA can deliver this kind of change.

Issued by Kate Lorimer, DA Gauteng Shadow MEC on Community Safety, 21 June 2018