GOOD statement by Brett Herron, GOOD Secretary-General & Member of Parliament
07 June 2022
As if Reynold Talmakkies, the City of Cape Town’s rogue intelligence unit head, doesn’t have enough legal issues on his plate, it has now emerged that his son, David, was recently arrested in the company of alleged gangsters in relation to the possession of arms and ammunition.
Reynold Talmakkies, who left the police under a cloud after being charged in Mpumalanga in 2016 with meddling with police dockets, was snapped up by the City of Cape Town and subsequently appointed to head an unlawful private intelligence unit reporting to Mayco member JP Smith.
To the charges in Mpumalanga that he still faces were added new charges, in Cape Town, earlier this year relating to corruption and defrauding his employer. Bizarrely, City ratepayers are paying for his defence.
Now, GOOD’s newspaper WAARHEID! reported in its most recent edition, David, 29, was arrested in about five weeks ago with four other men, said to be members of the Junky Funky’s gang, on charges of unlawfully possessing ammunition and an imitation firearm.
This wasn’t David’s first brush with the law. Last March, the Daily Voice reported that he had been arrested in connection with the murder of Cape Flats rapper Chad du Plessis, aka CDP, and granted bail.
Although David is an adult, and you can’t always lay the blame for the alleged sins of children at the feet of their parents, the circumstances of his arrest, and the company he evidently keeps, do raise further uncomfortable questions about integrity.
When GOOD raised questions about the legality of the City shadowy unit, first named the SIU and subsequently the SSIU, Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis responded immaturely, suggesting that questioning the unit was tantamount to supporting crime.
The Mayor defended his rogue unit on the basis of national government failures to reduce crime. The truth is that organised crime (such as that allegedly committed by the son of his rogue unit boss) flourishes on structural weaknesses and compromised individuals in the ranks of crime fighters.
The GOOD Party agrees with the Mayor that more policing powers should be devolved to cities. Where we disagree is on our insistence that the City should act with higher integrity than the criminals, themselves.
Two months ago the Minister of Police publicly confirmed that the City’s SIU is an unlawful unit and committed to investigating its operations. In the interests of eliminating crime risks, rogue units must be shut down.
Media Enquiries:
Brett Herron, GOOD: Secretary-General & Member of Parliament
Cell: 0825183264
Email: bretth@forgood.org.za
Janke Tolmay, GOOD: Media Manager
Cell: 0733671223
Email: janke@forgood.org.za