The Democratic Alliance has laid a formal complaint against Western Cape SAPS leadership after uncovering that 164 police members with criminal convictions remained in service for years without proper disciplinary action being taken against them.
The opposition party announced today (25 May) that it would request an urgent investigation into what it describes as an “egregious dereliction of duty” by Provincial Commissioner Lieutenant General Thembisile Patekile and Deputy Provincial Commissioner for Support Services Major General Preston Voskuil.
According to DA NCOP member on security and justice Nicholas Gotsell, internal SAPS correspondence reveals that a retrospective verification exercise covering the period from 2016 to 2026 was only recently triggered after the DA intensified parliamentary scrutiny regarding criminal elements within the police service.
The 164 convictions involve a wide range of serious offences, including murder, culpable homicide, assault with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm, pointing of firearms, driving under the influence, reckless driving, shoplifting, burglary, theft, drug-related offences, fraud and contempt of court. Several members are linked to multiple convictions or offences committed over a number of years.
The DA claims that SAPS Western Cape failed to properly implement Regulation 5(3)(dd) of the SAPS Discipline Regulations 2016, which is designed to deal with members once they have been convicted of crimes. The regulation requires conviction-triggered disciplinary intervention to assess whether a convicted member should continue serving as a police officer.
“This raises serious questions about whether SAPS Western Cape ever had an effective system to centrally monitor, track and enforce disciplinary processes against criminally convicted members,” Gotsell stated.
The complaint comes amid existing criticism of Patekile’s leadership. The Acting Minister of Police has previously criticised the provincial commissioner for controversial interventions in disciplinary matters, including the reversal or variation of dismissals in cases involving warrant officer Sahabodien and constables Williams and Hendricks.
In those cases, members implicated in serious misconduct involving theft, fraud, drugs and misuse of SAPS resources were permitted to remain within SAPS structures after Patekile altered their dismissal sanctions and replaced them with two-month suspensions.
In response to a parliamentary question posed by the DA, the Acting Minister of Police conceded that the powers exercised by provincial commissioners under the 2016 SAPS Discipline Regulations had become problematic and required review.
Major General Voskuil’s name has also surfaced repeatedly in relation to the rape kit supply crisis and broader management failures within SAPS Western Cape, according to the DA.
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The party said it would intensify parliamentary oversight into the apparent systemic failures surrounding Regulation 5(3)(dd), including the possibility that convicted SAPS members were retained in operational, tactical and financially sensitive environments for years without proper disciplinary resolution.
The revelations come at a time when frontline communities continue to face violent crime and gangsterism, with public confidence in policing under increasing strain.
SAPS Western Cape has yet to respond to a media enquiry as to these allegations.
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