Good cop, bad cop?

Colleagues say he’s racist and authoritarian; local people say he’s straight, dedicated and effective

One of the country’s most successful police bosses is sitting at home terrified that his own colleagues might kill him.

Superintendent Joe Odendaal, 48-year-old station commissioner at the highly effective Sandringham police station in Johannesburg, is on sick leave caused by stress.

Since the beginning of the year he has endured water being poured over documents he was working on, his office door was smeared with excrement and his colleagues, belonging to the two police labour unions, stated at a crisis meeting that ‘they cannot ensure the station commissioner’s safety”.

Odendaal has declined to talk to the media, but the Mail & Guardian has established from other police officers and Sandringham community members that intimidation of him started after an incident in December last year when a captain at the station was arrested and locked up by inspector-rank colleagues. The captain was alleged to have threatened his colleagues and pointed a gun at one of them.

Odendaal, who was not present at the time, allegedly released the captain on a warning after officially charging him at the station. The M&G is in possession of the case numbers of the charges against the captain — one for assault and one for pointing a weapon. The captain has since appeared in court and has been transferred to another police station in Johannesburg.

A source sympathetic to Odendaal told the M&G this week that Odendaal was negotiating with the South African Police Service (SAPS) for a transfer to another station ‘where he can go on with his life”.

‘He is a disciplined, principled man who wasn’t prepared to turn a blind eye to people’s shit. That’s why they want him out,” the source said.

But the unions differ. The South African Police Union (Sapu) and the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) have accused Odendaal of racism and ‘being above the law”.

Popcru’s Gauteng provincial secretary, Matsemela Matsemela, claimed that Odendaal favoured certain police members above others in the execution of his duties and took sides in the dispute between the captain and the two inspectors.

Sapu’s national spokesperson, Barries Machakela, agreed: ‘For a long, long time — Odendaal has been protecting the captain.”

The two unions’ representatives said they are aware of the incidents against Odendaal and called them ‘regrettable”. Both denied their members were involved.

The M&G is in possession of a letter sent by the unions to Gauteng provincial commissioner Perumal Naidoo expressing their collective grievance against Odendaal and the captain. In the letter Odendaal is accused of an ‘iron-fist management style”.

It is alleged the captain told his subordinates at a parade in December last year that they ‘must not search white, Indian and coloured [sic] in the area; they must only search blacks as they are the ones committing crime”.

The captain, an Indian man, has also been accused of other racist behaviour and Odendaal of protecting and favouring him.

Sandringham police station, where Odendaal has worked since 1998, has been successful in bringing down most types of crimes in the past seven years.

According to the latest crime statistics, released by the SAPS in June last year, burglary at homes in the area went down by 27% from 439 cases in 2006 to 322 in 2007.

Theft from cars decreased by 44% from 234 to 132 incidents and theft of cars and motorcycles dropped 13% from 227 to 198.

Most Sandringham community members interviewed by the M&G lauded Odendaal as a model policeman who ‘stuck to the rules” and treated everyone courteously.

‘He must be the most dedicated policeman I have ever come across,” said one, who wished to remain anonymous. The unions’ gripe with Odendaal, she said, is that he is a disciplinarian.

‘I can’t imagine a nicer person,” said Ayanda Matthews, who manages substance-abuse centres and has worked closely with Odendaal ‘for a long time”.

Matthews said she had inquired about Odendaal’s whereabouts as the community always felt secure when he was around. She said she was surprised to hear that Odendaal had been put on ‘a leave of absence”.

‘Absolutely despicable” is how former police reservist Anne Ross described the treatment meted out to Odendaal. She said Odendaal had been an integral part of the community and was accessible to all despite living in Pretoria.

The SAPS did not respond to questions from the M&G.