Moves to sort out the Nyanga policing area, which has the highest number of reported murders in the country, have been hampered by the long- term absence of the senior officer sent in to shake things up.
The police chief tasked with sorting out the rampant crime in the Nyanga policing area took "sick leave" just a month after assuming his new role at the station in August.
Assistant Commissioner Kenneth Mkhize's long absence is a setback for Premier Ebrahim Rasool and Community Safety MEC Leonard Ramatlakane who, in October, promised to shake up the Nyanga area.
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There seems to be very little that Mkhize's boss, Provincial Commissioner Mzwandile Petros, can do about the situation at Nyanga. Petros's spokesperson, Novela Potelwa, said: "The commissioner (Petros) is aware of Mkhize's absence but does not know when he will report to work."
At the police station, talk is rife that Mkhize is not happy about his placement in Nyanga during the shake-up.
Nyanga is notorious as the country's top murder area after the release of annual crime statistics in September 2006.
Its police station topped the charts with 284 murders from April to May. The area also recorded the highest number of reported attempted murders in the province - 163 - for the same period, and 325 rapes were reported.
The station's policing area covers about 15km² and includes the suburbs of Nyanga, Crossroads and the informal settlements of Kosovo, Samora Machel and Browns Farm.
Potelwa said Mkhize's deployment to Nyanga was part of the South African Police Service's deployment strategy aimed at beefing up the management capacity of stations.
At his rank, which is the equivalent of a chief-director in government departments, Mkhize's annual package is well over R500 000 and is accompanied by handsome perks.
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But a senior police official at the station said Mkhize "was placed on a hot seat and the deputies who occupied his position before his appointment welcomed his appointment as a relief".
"I don't blame him for taking the so called 'stress leave' because our crime figures are ridiculous. Murder statistics here are high enough to drive any commissioner crazy; we deal with murder every day," said the official.
Another insider said Mkhize was "never happy being deployed to head the Nyanga police station and that he confessed this to other senior police officials".
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