Nelson Mandela Bay police chief Ncata claps back after policing criticisms

Nelson Mandela Bay’s top cop is not impressed by the criticism levelled at his squads following last week’s visit by the chairperson of Parliament’s police portfolio committee to several police units leading the charge against crime in the metro.

In fact, Nelson Mandela Bay (NMB) district police commissioner Major General Vuyisile Ncata said he is looking forward to the next round of crime statistics, confident they will paint a different picture of policing under his watch.

And while Ncata is the first to admit that law enforcement in the region faces many challenges, he said Ian Cameron’s visit to Gqeberha, and his subsequent comments about the state of policing in the metro, was very selective and did not reflect the entirety of the metro’s police.

“I reject these comments that suggest policing in Nelson Mandela Bay has collapsed. Yes, we have challenges, but to say we have been incapacitated is simply not true,” Ncata said.

Cameron, accompanied by several high-ranking DA politicians, visited specialised police units in NMB and met senior officers of the Anti-Gang Unit (AGU), Flying Squad and K-9 Unit.

Shortcomings

During these visits they highlighted major shortcomings in resources and training for their members meant to be at the forefront of crime prevention and reactive policing.

One key issue, that seemed to be a recurring theme among the units in question, was a critical shortage of reliable vehicles and a steady decline in member numbers.

Read more: Parliamentary oversight visit reveals shocking state of Nelson Mandela Bay’s elite police units

It was reported that the Flying Squad, the police’s first responders, had no operational high-performance vehicles, and were relegated to one bakkie across four shifts, shared by more than 50 members.

Similarly, the AGU’s four vehicles were shared by 110 members, and they had to conduct operations across Gqeberha, Kariega and even as far as Humansdorp in neighbouring Kouga Municipality.

Meanwhile, at the K-9 Unit, member numbers have been downscaled, and several members on duty have had no training to actually work with the dogs available.

“These were just some of the challenges the members on the ground shared with us. And when these resources are lacking, crime fighting and service delivery suffers,” Cameron said.

“Looking at recent crime trends in NMB, kidnappings are rampant and we are losing that fight. 

“When last did you hear about a cellphone shop being robbed? The risk is too great and the potential reward too little. The kidnapping of wealthy individuals is the new lucrative scheme.

“And the criminals know the police are lacking resources. No vehicles mean they are slow to respond to scenes, giving them time to flee with their victims and reducing their chances of being caught.”

Read more: Spate of Nelson Mandela Bay kidnappings ‘could be linked to single mastermind’

Cameron reiterated that the morale of police members was at rock bottom.

“One officer said they should not be called the Flying Squad, but the Dying Squad. What does that tell you about their attitude towards their work environment?”

While Ncata conceded that the police faced many challenges, particularly at the police garages, which led to vehicle shortages, he said the bigger picture was far better than Cameron suggested.

“Truck hijackings used to be one of our biggest problems, and they have now been reduced significantly. We were plagued with shootings with multiple fatalities, and those investigations have also yielded good results.

“At the launch of the festive season Nelson Mandela Bay received 28 new vehicles – the most of all the districts in the Eastern Cape – and some of those vehicles will be allocated to our specialised units. 

“Our forces were bolstered with 141 new members, particularly our detectives, visible policing and AGU . We are addressing our shortages.”

Ncata said NMB is an economic hub and densely populated, which stands to reason that it would be identified as a crime hotspot.

“Vehicles are a major concern, partly due to challenges at our garages. We cannot deny this. But it does not incapacitate us.”

He said one of the ways provincial management is looking to address issues at the garages is to change the current model of outsourcing the purchase of spare parts for police vehicles.

He said they are exploring the possibility of police garages building their own stock of spare parts, which would improve the turnaround time for vehicles in need of repairs.

“Again, we acknowledge that there are challenges, but we reject comments that make it seem like the police have collapsed. Come [crime] stats time, I think we will see where our resources have been spent,” Ncata said. DM