Academic and former political activist, Dr Zola Mbanguta of Ikhwezi Township in Mthatha, has strongly objected to the possible roping in of retired police officers in crime fighting strategies by the OR Tambo District Municipality (ORTDM).
This comes after the district municipality signalled its intentions to tap into the experience and wisdom of retired police officers, under the banner of the Eastern Cape Police Pensioners Association (ECPPA), as part of fighting crime and devising new crime fighting strategies under its jurisdiction.
The intention to rope in the retired officers was revealed by Milile Daweti, a senior official within the ORTDM office of the executive mayor, Mesuli Ngqondwana.
Daweti was speaking at a reunion ceremony of the ECPPA’s Mthatha branch held at SMJ Events and Conference Centre on February 15.
“Crime is getting out of control under the district municipality and our view is that we should be able to tap into the wisdom of those who came before us, in the form of the retired police officers, to devise new ways and strategies to bring the situation under control,” Daweti said at the gathering.
However, Mbanguta objected to this in a letter titled “Objection to ECPPA’s planned comeback operations in the ORTDM” that he sent to Mthatha Express following the publication of the article with Daweti’s utterances.
Mbanguta is currently seeking justice for his late brother, David De Wet Mbanguta, an ANC underground operative, who died under mysterious circumstances in November 1983.
He further accused some of the ECPPA members, who served in the then Transkei homeland government, of being behind the alleged murder of his late brother.
“In the Mthatha Express newspaper dated February 23, 2023, you wrote about a planned meeting between the Eastern Cape Police Pensioners Association and the OR Tambo District Municipality. It is stated that the meeting will discuss ways in which the ORTDM will tap into the experiences and wisdom of retired police officers.
“I strongly object to this move as these retired police officers of the former Transkei homeland government are nothing but a rot and menace to the people of the OR Tambo District. Their planned comeback is nothing but a way of attempting to cover up all the rot and murders they committed while they were in the police service of the Transkei homeland government,” Mbanguta asserted in his letter.
“They killed our ANC and PAC struggle fathers and brothers, until the new democracy was ushered in. They were allowed to continue with their police service when the ANC took over as government in South Africa in 1994. They nearly killed our first black president, Nelson Mandela, in broad daylight, and nothing was done to punish them,” Mbanguta further said.
The ECPPA has defended itself, saying that its retired members were fully integrated into the South African Police Service after 1994 and would not be drawn into what may have occurred prior the democratic dispensation.
“Most members of the ECPPA retired as members of the SAPS. Although some of them did serve under the then Transkei homeland government, we cannot rely on unproven allegations that Dr Mbanguta is making, and will advise him to seek legal recourse against the individuals he suspects to have been involved in the alleged murder of his brother,” said ECPPA Mthatha branch chairperson, Brigadier Siphiwo Mxego.
The ORTDM also said that it is forging ahead with its plans to rope in the retired officers as part of crime fighting strategies under the district, despite Mbanguta’s objections.
