The South African Police Service (SAPS) will on Friday announce new Provincial Commissioners for Limpopo and Mpumalanga, completing a week of senior leadership appointments as the organisation moves ahead with its organisational renewal programme and the implementation of the SAPS Reset Agenda.
Acting National Commissioner Lieutenant General Puleng Dimpane will announce the appointments during engagements in Polokwane and Nelspruit alongside the respective provincial premiers and MECs responsible for community safety.
The Limpopo appointment will fill the vacancy left by Lieutenant General Thembi Hadebe, who retired at the end of June. Major General Jan Scheepers has been serving as acting Provincial Commissioner since 1 July.
In Mpumalanga, the appointment will bring to an end the acting tenure of Major General Dr Zeph Mkhwanazi, who has been overseeing policing in the province.
The appointments follow the announcement of Lieutenant General Sizakhele William Dyantyi as Western Cape Provincial Commissioner on Wednesday and Lieutenant General Arthur Peter Adams as North West Provincial Commissioner on Thursday, as SAPS continues strengthening leadership across the provinces.
Both Dyantyi and Adams bring 34 years of policing experience to their new roles. Dyantyi has served in a range of operational and leadership positions across the Eastern and Western Cape, while Adams has built his career in specialised operations, tactical policing, training and senior operational command.
Dyantyi and Adams will assume office on 1 August following their appointments earlier this week.
Announcing the Western Cape and North West appointments earlier this week, Dimpane said the selection process was aimed at identifying leaders with the operational experience, strategic foresight and ethical leadership needed to strengthen policing and drive organisational renewal.
“It was not about filling a vacancy. It was about identifying a leader capable of reading the current temperature of policing in South Africa,” Dimpane said during Wednesday’s announcement in Cape Town.
Speaking in Mahikeng on Thursday, she said the process reflected “a transparent, credible and merit-based process”, adding that SAPS had sought leaders with “operational credibility, strategic foresight, proven leadership and unquestionable integrity”.
Provincial commissioners are responsible for providing strategic leadership across their provinces, overseeing operational policing, crime prevention, detective services and the implementation of national policing priorities through district commissioners and local police stations.
In announcing the appointments this week, Dimpane said the incoming commissioners would be expected to strengthen leadership, improve operational readiness, reinforce discipline and accountability, and deepen partnerships with communities in the fight against crime.
SAPS said the appointments form part of its organisational renewal programme and reinforce the organisation’s commitment to “professional, ethical, accountable and effective policing in support of the SAPS Reset Agenda”.
The appointments come at a critical time for SAPS as the police service seeks to strengthen provincial leadership and intensify efforts to combat violent crime, organised criminal networks and other policing challenges.
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Hope Ntanzi
iol.co.za
