Dear Editor
The Democratic Alliance (DA) is outraged by new revelations confirming that SAPS continues to sideline its K9 units in Cape Town, despite their proven effectiveness in combating drugs and gang-related crime. Even more concerning is the ongoing refusal by Western Cape Police Commissioner, Lt. Genl. Thembisile Patekile, to deploy these specialised dogs where they are needed most — on the Cape Flats.
Shockingly, there is currently only one operational narcotics sniffer dog serving the entire Cape Town metro.
The DA has written to Lt. Genl. Patekile demanding an explanation for this inaction, including why the dogs have not yet been sent to the Roodeplaat training facility and why they have been left idle for more than two months, while communities remain under siege.
Pressure by the DA, following an oversight inspection to the unit in February, prompted the procurement of a donation of 16 dogs from civil society. The DA welcomed the intervention at the time, however, it has now emerged that only six of those dogs were declared medically fit.
Whilst they have passed their readiness assessments more than two months ago, they are still waiting for formal placement on a training course to specialise in critical fields like narcotics and explosives detection.
Their passionate handlers have been left in limbo for over two months, with no scheduled course, no direction and no urgency from top SAPS management.
Meanwhile, Roodeplaat, which is SAPS’ national K9 training facility, is used for other station-level courses – but not K9 training. Millions of rands have been spent renovating the facility, yet the core function of preparing police dogs to fight crime has been deprioritised.
The DA reiterates its call on Provincial Commissioner Patekile to prioritise the training and deployment of the six operational-ready dogs in Cape Town. K9s are force-multipliers and the SAPS at various hotspot areas urgently require the help of specialised narcotics and explosives sniffer dogs.
The DA has written to Patekile to make this demand and to seek answers as to why they have not yet been sent to Roodeplaat and why they have been laying idle for more than two month.
If SAPS truly believes in using all available tools to fight crime, then it must stop sidelining its most loyal and effective allies – our K9 handlers and their dogs.
Regards
Nicholas Gotsell MP
DA NCOP Member on Security & Justice