Provincial Police Commissioner Tembisile Patekile has given clarity on the Western Cape’s widely criticised English-only policy.
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According to Patekile, the internal policy was not designed to discriminate against complainants.
‘This is for working language within the police, which excludes people that are coming to the police station.’
‘They use the language of their own choice to lay those complaints, but statements that are submitted by the members of the SAPS must be in English.’
‘This policy provides that the working language for the police in all official documents shall be English,’ he said.
The policy has been widely criticised by both the DA and Freedom Front Plus, with the parties saying that they would lodge complaints with the South African Human Rights Commission.
Police Minister Bheki Cele was also asked for his stance on the directive by DA spokesperson on the police, Okkie Terblanche.
The minister said that ‘All provincial commissioners will be instructed by the national commissioner to withdraw any provincial language instruction, which is in conflict with national policy.’
This stance was welcomed by Terblanche.
‘This is not the first time an instruction of this nature has been issued,’ he told IOL. ‘This has happened before in Limpopo as well as in the Northern Cape.’
‘However, after the response from the Minister, the DA welcomes the removal of these discriminatory language policies from these provinces as well,’ said Terblanche.
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