Summer season safety plan launched
THE Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality, along with the metro police, South African Police Service and a host of other safety and security services, launched a summer season safety plan yesterday.
While the city gears up for a bumper season of festivities, safety and security mayoral committee member John Best said the municipality would ensure all areas and beaches were safe.
Zero tolerance could be expected during the festive period, he said.
“Unfortunately, people have been attacked in this precinct in the last week, which is totally unacceptable, and we want to make sure this is a 365-day crime-free area because tourists don’t just visit in the summer season. We have to make sure that our beaches and tourist attractions are safe.
“According to the statistics that we received we are going to have a bumper season, although we are in a drought.
“The weather looks like it is going to be [good], which means we are going to have a lot of people on our beaches, but I can assure you that we have come up with a plan that will show results.”
In addition to the visible policing along the beaches, there were also 4am roadblocks set up around the city to curb drunken driving.
He said all beaches would be patrolled by visible policing units.
Six metro police officials will patrol on bicycles along the Ironman route, and the municipality will also use three Segway scooters and equestrian policing services. Cluster commander Major-General Dawie Rabie said the police had already started operations which would end when schools reopened.
“There will be major parallel road blocks on routes to holiday destinations, and there will be special operations that will be intensified at the port of entry, taxi ranks, shopping malls. There will be high visibility on all our busy routes.
“To ensure that members of the public enjoy themselves, we call on everyone to act responsibly.
“We are not going to allow the use of alcohol. We promise that we will be very visible, but we will still be the friendly city while enforcing the law.”
All stakeholders from the safety and security departments signed a pledge of support and commitment to the safety of the city yesterday.