The Western Cape has a new top cop.
Lieutenant-General Sindile Mfazi has been appointed as the acting Provincial Police Commissioner.
He replaces Khombinkosi Jula, who has been appointed as KwaZulu-Natal’s police chief.
Mfazi is the current Deputy National Commissioner of Management Advisory Services.
The office of the National Commissioner of SAPS, General Khehla John Sitole, said Mfazi’s appointment forms part of the National Stabilisation Intervention currently being implemented in the Western Cape.
SAPS management said it was “confident that the appointment of Lieutenant-General Mfazi into this position will add value to the intervention programme while the process of appointing a permanent Provincial Commissioner is unfolding.
“The process to appoint a permanent Provincial Commissioner will commence on 1 August 2019 and is expected to be completed by the end of the same month,” said Sitole.
The appointment is viewed as a snub to Cape-based chiefs Peter Jacobs and Jeremy Vearey, who were regarded as front-runners for the position.
Western Cape Community Safety MEC Albert Fritz had already confirmed on record that Jula was leaving at the end of the month and that the police minister would be making an announcement.
There were also calls from the provincial legislature to expedite the process so that an end to divisions within the provincial structures could be addressed urgently.
Infighting among the top brass in the province had been blamed for the inability to get to grips with escalating crime in the province.
Matters came to a head when six Anti-Gang Unit members were wounded during a failed operation carried out in Samora Machel informal settlement last month.
Unit Chief André Lincoln said the officers were appointed to the unit by Jula without his authorisation.
Lincoln requested the members appointed by Jula be removed from the AGU.