The Daily Voice is in possession of official documents and emails revealing that Mayor Patricia de Lille has quietly stripped the City of Cape Town’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU).
The DA Federal Executive on Monday confirmed it is investigating the controversial decision.
The unit, established by the safety and security directorate under Smith several years ago, investigates crimes involving council employees, including murder, corruption and fraud.
It also provides intelligence to various specialised units such as the Metro Police’s Gang and Drugs Task Team (GDTT) and Law Enforcement’s Vice Squad, the Ghost Squad, the Metal Theft Unit and the Problem Buildings Unit.
According to a senior SIU official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, their mandate was changed in August this year by De Lille who instructed the City Manager to have SIU “shut down”.
The official says at the time they were investigating the murder of DA councillor Xolile Gwangxu, who was shot and killed while leaving his Philippi East office in June.
“There were some councillors who were not forthcoming with information to police,” he explains.
“The unit was working with police. Then rumours surfaced that we were investigating other councillors and then we were told our mandate was being changed and limited to investigating misconduct by safety and security staff.
“We were not investigating councillors or operating outside of our existing mandate.”
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The SIU, the official explains, operates as a central intelligence agency which provides information to other specialised units. “SIU was shut down and it will have a negative impact on units like GDTT that also investigates and profiles gangsters and the drug trade.”
A GDTT officer, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, says his team will essentially be crippled. “The whole thing will collapse, because we collect a lot of information from SIU that helps us identify which drug houses to hit and which gangsters to watch and chase after.”
While no SIU staff have lost their jobs, the bulk of their workload has been taken away.
“They are now limited to internal investigations into staff inside of safety and security, but nothing that actually matters to the public,” an official says.
According to the leaked documents, the unit was investigating 67 high profile cases which range from murder to damage to City infrastructure.
At the top of the list was Gwangxu’s murder.
It also lists an investigation into Ses’khona People’s Movement leader, Andile Lili, for assault, intimidation and incitement to commit murder.
Asked why the City had shut the SIU, De Lille did not respond.
Instead the Daily Voice was issued with a statement by safety and security director, Richard Bosman, which says the “mandate of the unit was clarified and consolidated early in August”.
“The City Manager is conducting an administrative review of the SIU,” Bosman said.
“The reason is that there were allegations that it was exceeding its mandate which would have been procedurally inappropriate.
“The City government does not have investigative powers when it comes to criminal matters, which is the mandate of the SAPS and the criminal justice system. We are not the police force.”
He added that all intelligence received by the unit will continue to be passed on to SAPS.
However, James Selfe, chairperson of the DA’s Federal Executive says they have established a sub-committee which has been tasked with investigating a series of matters relating to the City of Cape Town.
“The disbandment of the SIU has been drawn to our attention [although it is a governance issue] and we have referred it to the sub-committee. In general, the DA is deeply concerned about the levels of crime, and supports any initiative or institution which will help to reduce these levels,” he says.
Mayco Member for Safety and Security, JP Smith, says he is concerned about the reduction in the scope of the work of the SIU.
“After changes to SIU, I have asked for me, the executive director and senior staff to meet the mayor about the matter urgently and she made a meeting date available in the next week.
“I hope we can reinstate the full functionality of the unit as it was doing good work with external investigations especially around drugs and gang violence.”