JP Smith should be axed

COSATU is amazed at the levels JP Smith and the DA spin machine will go to, to cover up his incompetence. The City is in a desperate crisis that needs to see a united effort in confronting the scourge of Drugs and Gangsterism that results in rising levels of criminality. The solution to the crisis is not one or the other agency, but all agencies working together, with all of the communities.

For agencies and the communities to work together we need mature political leaders who can put the people's interest ahead of their own agendas and egos. We need leadership at a political level who has the emotional intelligence to collaborate and inspire communities. This has not happened in the last 7 years of JP Smith involvement in policing issues.

Instead of trying to work with SAPS, JP uses the DA R 50 million rand spin and public relations company to try and get people to believe some things other than the truth. The people have seen the emperor has no clothes on and so want JP to move out of the position of leadership. JP Smith is a bean counter and not an inspiring political leader, He should be put in a corner and told to count the number of police and cars there are in the system - that is the kind of thing he is capable of.

The Metro Police are COSATU members and they complain to us about the political agenda that JP pushes in Council - discouraging them from working with the Police in a coherent way. He tries at every attempt to discredit SAPS as he tries to advance his own image by denigrating others. The Metro Police are also unhappy about the way that JP leads the department and the exploitative wages that he pays them for doing a really great job.

JP Smith the bean counter focuses on dogs barking and Cell phones when clearly there is a crisis in most communities. He seems to be more concerned about the kind of issues that affect the citizens of Sea Point than the citizens of Mitchell's Plain and Khayelitsha.  JP Smith had previously threatened to use the Metro Police against me for exposing him and I am now going to lay criminal charges as the Speaker of Council had not attended to the matter satisfactorily. He appears to be covering up for Smith, who is one of the more incompetent members of Mayco in the City.

COSATU calls for JP Smith to be replaced with someone who can bring the required leadership to the position and not someone who thinks the solution to a challenge is a press statement and a by law that has no bearing on the situation.

Statement issued by COSATU Western Cape Provincial Secretary, Tony Ehrenreich, January 28 2014

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