Heist gangs exploit SAPS flaws

The South African Police Service needs to prioritise the fight against cash-in-transit heists as the crime is on the rise again.

At least four incidents have been reported since the brazen attack on two G4S security vans last Thursday in Boksburg, where 10 robbers blocked the road and used explosives to blow up the vehicles.

The South African Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric) reported yesterday that a whopping 140 of these kinds of robberies had been committed since January this year.

The Institute for Security Studies also reported that 378 heists had taken place last year, a figure that is close to the record high of 467 cases in 2007.

Even though the reason behind the current spike in heists is unknown, the police brought the crime under control after the 2009 appointment of Bheki Cele as national police commissioner.

Police recorded 182 heist cases in the 2011/2012 financial year.

Cele was later fired over allegations of corruption and a lot has happened since his sacking, starting with the appointment of a bureaucrat, Riah Phiyega, to head the SAPS instead of a career policeman. She was later removed over the death of miners in Marikana. Her predecessor, acting commissioner Kgomotso Phahlane, did not stay long either as he was removed over alleged corruption.

We believe the instability over all those years at the helm of the force weakened the police, along with the fact that Crime Intelligence was used to fight political battles instead of focusing on protecting ordinary South Africans.

Criminals saw a gap in the weakened force and are now back with deadly force.

If the SAPS continues as if it is business as usual and does not come up with new strategies to counter the gangs, we might be sitting with more than the 2007 heist figure by the end of the year.

If we are to succeed against criminals who are armed to the teeth, we need a stronger intelligence and a strengthened Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks), not the toothless body that replaced the Scorpions. With Cele’s recent appointment as Minister of Police, we call on him and National Police Commissioner General Khehla Sitole to take control of the streets for the sake of ordinary citizens.