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The Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomes the decision by the Chairperson of the Select Committee on Security and Justice to summon the Western Cape Provincial Commissioner of Police, Lt. Genl. Patekile, to appear before the Committee on Wednesday, 18 February, following sustained DA pressure for him to account for the series of escapes from police custody in the last quarter of 2025.

For months, the DA has demanded answers after incidents at Wynberg, Strand, Bellville, Sea Point and Robertson shook public confidence in SAPS’s ability to maintain secure custody. Patekile has largely remained silent, forcing Parliament to intervene. We will use this opportunity to obtain the answers that have been ignored in repeated correspondence.

The DA will continue to ensure that SAPS fulfils its mandate to keep people safe, just as the City of Cape Town and the Western Cape Government continue to deploy Metro Police and LEAP officers to high-risk communities on the Cape Flats, in Atlantis and other gang-affected areas.

Through ongoing oversight, the DA has also learnt that a SAPS officer stationed at Athlone, who was allegedly caught assisting in the smuggling of drugs between Pollsmoor and Athlone police cells, remains employed at the same station and has not even been suspended. This leaves criminal networks intact and enables the very conditions that breed these so-called “escapes”.

This is compounded, inter alia, by the Provincial Commissioner’s recent decision to overturn the dismissal of a drug-dealing SAPS officer from Muizenberg, reinforcing a culture of impunity. Instead of confronting criminal elements within the service, these incidents are repeatedly labelled as “erroneous releases”.

Communities living under constant threat of violent crime deserve better. The DA will hold the Commissioner accountable and will continue to push for a professional, ethical and trustworthy police service that keeps dangerous criminals behind bars.

Issued by Nicholas Gotsell MP - DA NCOP Member on Security & Justice