Mbalula wants soldiers to help fight crime

POLICE Minister Fikile Mbalula wants the army to help combat crime in the Western Cape and Gauteng.

“Minister Mbalula notes that in recent past South Africa has been engulfed by an insurgence of extremely violent crime that has made communities feel and be unsafe‚” the police ministry said last night.

It added that levels of violence in recent months had involved the use of weapons of war in the commission of serious crimes, where a number of innocent bystanders and even children had fallen victim to gang-related violent crimes.

“When I visited the community of Elsies River‚ one community leader referred to the terror caused by gangs as terrorism.

“I want to tell the people of Elsies River that I heard you‚ and I am acting‚” Mbalula said.

The most recent incidents of increased violence and shooting incidents and the increase in gangsterism activities in the Western Cape and Gauteng were becoming a matter of huge concern‚ the ministry said.

The incidents in the Western Cape and Gauteng were severely impacting on criminal activities, including murder, attempted murder, robbery, assaults, truck and car thefts, rape, trespassing, child abuse and neglect, abuse of controlled chemicals and drug-related crimes.

“Violent incidents and gangsterism activities is severely impacting on an increase of deaths of innocent bystanders as well as impacting on criminal activities‚ the social environment and the safety and security of communities.

“Our children have a right to grow in a peaceful environment‚ and as police‚ we have a duty to protect that right,” Mbalula added.

The ministry stated that Gauteng as a whole and the Western Cape‚ specifically Cape Town‚ had been identified as hotspots for crime.

“It has been decided that urgent additional steps must be taken in order to interdepartmentally manage the current scourge of crime in general‚ drug related offences and the negative impact this has on the community of the Gauteng and Western Cape Provinces.

“Stabilisation and combating of these criminal activities are within the mandate of the South African Police Service but due to the large groupings and military training of some of the perpetrators‚ the South African Defence Force is requested to assist in the mentioned provinces.” — DDC