DA takes a stand against crime

THE Democratic Alliance (DA) in eThekwini held a peaceful protest outside the SAPS Provincial Head Office in central Durban on Saturday, 27 October to take a stand against the high levels of crime in the city as well as the ban that has been imposed on Members of Parliament from conducting oversight visits at SAPS stations in KZN.

The protest was led by DA National leader Mmusi Maimane who was joined by KZN Provincial Premier candidate Zwakele Mncwango and eThekwini leader Nicole Graham.

“Our fight for safer communities is not against the police. We want to work with the police to ensure that they are properly trained, properly resourced and that politics does not interfere with their work. In addition to a professional and well-resourced police service we need to ensure that we have stricter control over our borders. This means ensuring that the free flow of drugs, illegal immigrants and crime syndicates is curtailed. We welcome anyone in our beautiful country but one must follow the correct steps to get in. Without knowing who is entering and leaving the country we have no control over any threats that come from outside our country,” said Central Durban Chairperson, Christopher Pappas.

DA spokesperson for Security and Emergency Services in eThekwini, Sharain Sewshanker said there was a plan to fix the city’s Metro Police which had for years been the victime of poor management and infighting.

“In addition to this there is so much political interference with the work Metro Police does that it creates a bad working environment for many of the members. We need to ensure that our Metro Police is a well-equipped and supported unit that is able to enforce by laws and help with active crime prevention,” said Sewshanker.

The DA’s plan for Metro Police, includes training 1 500 new police officers and filling the vacancies that exist. It also includes the use of technology to fight crime in hot spot areas such through the use of drone, gunshot technology, CCTV cameras and licence plate recognition.

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“Satellite stations need to be established in tourism areas, wasteful expenditure needs to be cut and there needs to be a focus on service delivery to cut protests. A specialised anti-drug unit and a dedicated anti-hijacking unit must be established in the city and basic resources such as vehicles and uniforms that are currently lacking must be provided. Lastly, Metro needs to increase visible policing and foot patrols,” said Sewshanker.

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