Lwandle Community Policing Forum (CPF) has called for a “bold” and “fearless” person to be appointed at Lwandle Police Station.
Current station commander Col Xolani Williams will be departing on Tuesday 31 January, having served the station since 2017.
Williams will be joining the City of Cape Town’s Land Invasion unit as the regional coordinator.
Lwandle CPF chair Siyabonga Macaula described Williams’ departure as a “great loss” for the community of Lwandle and surrounding areas.
He believes the South African Police Service (Saps) will also be missing out on what he termed a “dedicated” Williams.
“When the station commander took over the reigns, the station was facing a lot of challenges, and he played a huge role in ensuring the station changes.
“We had an issue of not having enough vehicles, no equipment inside and lack of personnel, which he dealt with effectively,” he said.
Macaula said Williams worked closely with local structures and listened to ordinary people when they complained to him.
“One of the challenges we have had is the issue of a permanent police station which we have been advocating for.
“Unfortunately, he leaves with that matter not being fulfilled, but we’ll continue to fight with the province and national to ensure it is realised,” said Macaula.
He believes Williams was able to “empower” those he worked with, his skills and his open-door policy made it easy for the community to reach him.
Macaula believes the area needs someone who has a sound understanding of it, and the necessary expertise to address issues of crime facing the community.
Williams believes one of the major challenges facing Lwandle is the “bad environmental design” of the area.
He told City Vision that issues of high unemployment, and growth in the area resulted in a problem with policing the area.
“You just cannot police the area with the same resources you had when the station started. There’s a huge issue of infrastructure, roads that need to be addressed,” he said.
Some of his achievements, Williams, said include arresting 33 extortionists, while 17 suspected extortionists killed one another.
He said police now boast better manpower as they had 105 personnel compared to 95 when he arrived and 25 detectives, compared to 14 in 2017.
