SIPHELELE NKETO
EASTERN Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane has welcomed the appointment of the Eastern Cape provincial commissioner Lieutenant General Vuyisile Ncata, with effect from April 1.
Ncata’s appointment was announced this week by police national commissioner General Fannie Masemola.
He has been in the police service since 1995, after starting out as a student constable.
His career began at the Kwanobuhle police station and he later trained as a Public Order Police member where he served as a unit commander.
He spent the first 10 years of his career in the Eastern Cape and later moved to the Western Cape where he served as station commander at the Langa police station in 2011.
In 2014 he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier at Nyanga police station where he led as a station commander.
He spent 18 years in the Western Cape mostly in areas affected by gang violence.
In 2022, he was promoted to the rank of Major General and moved back to his home province of the Eastern Cape where he served as the district commissioner of the Nelson Mandela Bay district; a position he held until recently.
“We welcome you not only with hope, but with a clear expectation that under your leadership, SAPS in the Eastern Cape will rise to meet the challenges before us with renewed vigour and integrity,” Mabuyane said when he welcomed Ncata.
Mabuyane further called on SAPS to strengthen its investigative capacity and improve victim support mechanisms as well as to ensure that perpetrators of GBVF face the full might of the law.
He raised his concerns over the rise in gun violence and contact crimes across the Eastern Cape, saying that the recent spate of mass shootings in areas such as KwaZakhele in Gqebera often occur in and around taverns and social gathering spaces and created an environment of fear and instability.
Another concern highlighted by Mabuyane was the issue of stock theft and rural safety in the regions of Pondoland.
He said stock theft remains a serious threat to livelihoods and the agricultural economy.
