Don’t hand country to gangs, says retiring Brigadier

Just days before he was due to retire, SAPS asked outgoing Mitchell’s Plain station commander Brigadier Cass Goolam to stay for another two months until his post was filled.

He, however, declined and as of his 60th birthday, celebrated on Friday September 30, is officially retired after 40 years of service to SAPS.

At Brigadier Goolam’s farewell at Athlone civic centre, Lieutenant General Peter Jacobs, who heads SAPS’ inspectorate division, said the Brigadier left big shoes to fill.

Two-days before, said Lieutenant General Jacobs, he had unsuccessfully tried to persuade Brigadier Goolam to stay on as station commander.

‘’It is reflective of us that we haven’t made time to get someone in your place that we were comfortable with. It was our inability to fill the shoes timeously,’’ he said.

Captain Ian Williams, Mitchell’s Plain police station spokesman and commander for Sector 8, including Tafelsig East, outlined Brigadier Goolam’s career and read out a list of his achievements.

He started his career at Mountain Rise police station in Pietermaritzburg on September 10, 1982 where he progressed into the ranks of crime intelligence. He also served in the Uthukela District of KwaZulu-Natal.

Lieutenant General Jacobs said Brigadier Goolam had been part of the liberation movement.

“Goolam was at the time of the late 80s and 90s when people died or were murdered in KZN. Goolam was our man in the target, when the security branch, the old police and the apartheid apparatus was trying to attack communities, kill activists. Goolam was the one that could give us the information that could be the preventer of death in bigger scale.

“People died in KZN (and) he helped us to prevent more deaths,’’ he said.

He thanked Brigadier Goolam’s wife of 16 years, Kim, for allowing him to serve the community and his country.

‘’Thank you to the family for giving us time, allowing us to have Goolam in defence of our community,’’ he said.

Lieutenant General Jacobs also thanked the Mitchell’s Plain community for embracing ‘’Goolam’’.

On Wednesday September 28 Brigadier Goolam had run through the streets of Mitchell’s Plain, encouraging youth to play sport. There were also demonstrations by marching drill bands and Cedar Gymnastics club gymnasts at Stephen Reagon Sportsfield, in Westridge.

Lieutenant General Jacobs said Brigadier Goolam had grown into community policing.

“He ran to the community - when you are in danger you are running from people, you run into the hands of your family.

“He ran into the community. He was received by them and embraced. And then in the process of being released, in doing that he was told it is okay you can go,” he said.

Mitchell’s Plain police station’s Colonel AC Roux said that the run through the community, with residents and workers lining the streets, bore testimony to their love for Brigadier Goolam.

“Brigadier Goolam leaves very big shoes to fill,” he said.

Brigadier Goolam said his last day was a bittersweet moment.

“I love the police very much,” he said.

“It is the police that educated me. Took me out of poverty. Put a roof over my head, educated my children, made me and gave me the stature that I have today,” he said.

In 2018, Brigadier Goolam and 13 other police officers were suspended, in connection with the disappearance of 15 state-issued 9mm pistols firearms from the station in August (“Missing guns probe”, Plainsman, September 20 2017).

‘’They removed me, the crime shot up. I was grieving. Mitchell’s Plain was bleeding,’’ he said of that experience.

Brigadier said there were certain individuals in the police who would persecute you, and warned: “You must identify that and fight your battles. Do not be in conflict with the organisation. You are here to serve the public,” he said.

Brigadier Goolam said he drew strength from how the community and Lieutenant General Jacobs had defended him.

He urged police to show their love for the country by stopping gang activity. “Love the country and fight for it. Do not hand it over to the Hard Livings and the 28s,’’ he said.

Brigadier Goolam said sustainable support was necessary to take down gangs and this included ensuring police officers had adequate training and the ability to defend themselves.

Ms Goolam wished Mitchell’s Plain all of the best and asked that they take forward what they had learned from Brigadier Goolam.