Communities urged to work with police to fight crime

POLICE Minister Bheki Cele said if the SAPS was to end the reign of criminals who are hell-bent on terrorising communities, officers’ visibility would always work in their favour.

Cele said results and desired outcomes could only be achieved if management left their offices and led from the front in the streets.

Cele said “Operation Okae Molao” in Gauteng was a model that would be replicated and become a national policing feature that brought fear to criminals and comfort to law-abiding citizens.

“We are calling on all provincial commissioners to take a cue from Gauteng and intensify their provincial operations, focusing on troublesome stations and removing them from the top 30 high-crime stations, both nationally and provincially,” Cele said.

While Cele released the crime statistics on Friday, two cash-in-transit robberies took place in Katlehong in Ekurhuleni and Kagiso in the west of Johannesburg.

Among those arrested in connection with the robbery in Katlehong was a police officer stationed at Katlehong North police station. He is expected to appear in court today.

Cele said the third-quarter crime figures showed that, while there were increases in contact crimes such as murder, assault, and robbery, there was a significant improvement in crimes detected as a result of police action.

Cele said these decreases were attributable to increased police visibility through patrols, stop-and-search operations, vehicle checkpoints and roadblocks.

“There are signs of improvements in crimes such as cash-in-transit heists and bank robberies, which have reported decreases in the period of reporting,” Cele said.

During the reporting period, he revealed that over 13 000 illegal foreigners had been arrested.

Cele said SAPS management and his ministry had also had promising engagements with their counterparts in Lesotho and Mozambique about cross-border crimes and intensifying their collaboration on policing interventions.

He urged communities to take charge and work together to ensure their safety.

“We are calling on residents of Mfuleni, Alexandra, Inanda, Seshego, Mitchells Plain, Diepsloot, Umlazi, and all the other policing areas with stubborn crime patterns to be agents and activists against crime.”

In Ekurhuleni, it seems the community is answering the call. There are two prominent crime-fighting groups there, namely, the Thatha-Zonke AntiCrime Unit and Eagle Force Swat.

While Thata-Zonke assists the community and police to recover stolen cars and fight drugs, Eagle Force Swat patrols the townships in the municipality on a 24-hour basis.

Cele said it was encouraging that 10 000 more recruits would be trained in 2023 and join the police service at the end of this year. President Cyril Ramaphosa made an about-turn on then newly approved amendments to the ministerial handbook, saying the free perks and benefits for Cabinet ministers would be up for review.