ABERDEEN NEWS— The former station commander of Aberdeen SAPS, Capt Advocate Qashani, has been promoted to the post of Lieutenant Colonel at the police station in Libode, 28km from his home town of Umtata.
He commenced his duties in the Umtata cluster on 2 January this year.
Captain Qashani was appointed to the post of station commander at Aberdeen SAPS in September 2015.
"When I came to the town, SAPS' image in Aberdeen was not good, SAPS members had low morale, and the community did not really trust the police" said Qashani. He remarked that there were also many complaints against the police on a regular basis in terms of poor service delivery.
During his time in Aberdeen, Capt Qashani worked hard to improve the image of the police and regain the trust of the community. He feels that during his time in the town, he had made substantial progress in terms of achieving these goals, and appreciated the cooperation received from many sectors in the community.
In July 2018, he was presented with a certificate for dedication and excellence by the Aberdeen Farmers' Association, with whom the Captain had built a very good relationship due to his positive approach and consistently high standards. Capt Qashani said at the time that the Aberdeen Community had shown interest working with police under his leadership and that he was proud to say that he was always with his foot soldiers on the ground, leading by example to fighting crime.
Capt Qashani said that he faced challenges during his time in Aberdeen, but he strove to maintain loyalty and integrity in all his dealings, according to the SAPS Code of Conduct and Code of Ethics.
"Despite the fact that we had enough physical resources, we cannot forget that we had a shortfall in terms of human resources," he said. "We were hoping for additional human resources or a possible upgrade of the station to one commanded by a Lieutenant Colonel instead of a Captain, in order to serve our community effectively" he continued, "but although our profile was submitted for consideration to provincial office, this has not yet been achieved". He concluded by hoping that the next Station Commander will take up the initiative to achieve this golden goal. Until his replacement is appointed, Aberdeen SAPS is under the command of acting station commander Warrant Officer Nombuntu Ntontela, who joined the Aberdeen station in June last year.
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