Police call for removal of top cop
Dozens of placard-brandishing off-duty police members converged on the Boksburg Police Station on Thursday, January 22, to demand the removal of their station commander, Col Biggs Govender.
The alleged poor leadership style of the commander prompted the members to organise a meeting to call for their boss to be removed.
They levelled various accusations at him, including failure to deal with employees’ grievances properly.
“We are not happy with his leadership style; he must be moved from the station permanently,” said one of the fed-up police officers. ”Let him go, we need a new station commander here.
”The station is in dire need of some form of intervention to ensure the best police service is provided to the community.”
Cluster commander Brig Wessie van der Westhuizen later addressed the angry crowd in a closed meeting.
Van der Westhuizen declined to talk to the media, but a police source said he promised to escalate their grievances to the SAPS management, and to give feedback the following day.
The station commander was due to return from leave on Friday, January 23.
One officer pointed out that the station is understaffed, seriously under-resourced and officers are operating from a dilapidated building and are overworked.
Govender could not be reached for comment and did not respond to phone calls and voice messages.
Gauteng police spokeswoman Lieut-Col Lungelo Dlamini was unable to comment and referred questions to Lieut-Col Katlego Mogale.
Written questions e-mailed to Mogale, at her request, were unanswered at the time of going to press.
However, according to a police source, the station commander has been placed on special leave, pending the outcome of an investigation, adding that an acting station commander would also be appointed.-@FanieBoksburg
