Department of Community Safety, Security and Liaison to continue mobilising communities to help fight against crime

• monitor police conduct;
• oversee the effectiveness and efficiency of the police service, including receiving reports on the police service;
• promote good relations between the police and the community;
• assess the effectiveness of visible policing; and
• Liaise with the Cabinet member responsible for policing with respect to crime and policing in the province. According to section 208 of the Constitution, a civilian secretariat for the police service must be established by national legislation to function under the direction of the Cabinet member responsible for policing. According to section 208 of the Constitution, a civilian secretariat for the police service must be established by national legislation to function under the direction of the Cabinet member responsible for policing

During the month of May, the Mpumalanga police arrested over 880 suspects in the province in one week. The cases ranged from driving under the influence to rape, robbery and murder. The MEC for community safety, security and liaison, Vusi Shongwe, applauded the police.

He said the department would continue to mobilise communities to help in the fight against crime.

The police thanked community members and safety organisations for their roles in bringing these suspects to book. They also urged citizens to work with the police to ensure this momentum is kept. While some suspects were simply given fines, others have appeared in various courts across the province. The provincial police spokesperson, Brig Leonard Hlathi, said the arrests were largely due to normal policing combined with special operations.

The Casteel community complained about the increasing number of pedestrians being hit by motorists allegedly driving at high speed on the R40. Sarah Malatji, a concerned resident, said two young people recently lost their lives while trying to cross the road. “One of them died on the spot after being hit by vehicle.”

Another one was also hit not far from where the first accident had happened. “This actually concerns us as residents living along the road. We plead with the department to increase road signs, including speed bumps and pedestrians crossing lines along the road, as this is a busy road leading to the Kruger,” Malatji said. A few weeks ago, another accident claimed a pedestrian’s life on the road near Aurtherseat Village towards the mall.

Shongwe reiterated his call to motorists to save lives by being extremely cautious on the road. “We cannot be counting fatalities every day on our roads. Motorists must come to the party and use the road responsibly.” He also sent his condolences to bereaved families of accident victims in the province.

Shongwe declared his full support to law enforcers in their quest to end crime in the province. He recently addressed the police during a visit to Pienaar Police Station.

He was en route to pay homage to the bereaved family that had lost four of their members in a recent accident on the N4 Toll Road near Machadodorp. “I am still the same Vusi Shongwe, the same MEC who worked with you before, and my approach and strategies are still the same. I must support the police and arrest those found to be part and parcel of crime and corruption,” he said.

“I think that is why the premier, the cabinet and the party leading the government decided to redeploy me back in the department. I am going to give you (the police) the necessary support. We are going to be working together, and I am going to bring back all the programmes that we used to have during my time as MEC.

“This includes the Overall Friday, and the motto had that was dropped immediately after I left the department: ‘Wabulala ipholisa wabulala umphakathi’ (killing a police officer is equivalent to killing the community).”

Outlining his approach to end crime in the province, Shongwe said he would bring back the outreach programmes to communities and Izimbizo to talk to communities. “We will make sure that we bring back a sense of responsibility to the community to prevent crime. We will bring back road safety education programmes, including the popular unit of the SAPS, the Tactical Response Team; with the special training they have, they are able to assist in high-crime communities.

“For us to be able to achieve the Vision 2030, in which you will to find a crime-free community with police stations only working to certify documents, the approach is the following: we need to prepare the community through Izimbizos, educate them about crime and take out the bad elements within the community.

“Those involved in rape cases, murder cases, heists and serious criminal activities need to be removed from the society and be donated to the Correctional Services for counselling and rehabilitation. As police we do not do counselling, our duty is to arrest perpetrators, speedily so,” he said.

He raised his concerns over the alarming increased rate of crime in the province. “Almost every part of the province is a crime hotspot now.

“We must bring back the province to where it used to belong. In the past we used to be rated number one or two, competing with the Free State in fighting crime. But now as I speak we fall somewhere around number eight; we are just before the last province. This means that we are counted among those provinces with high crime rates, and that is not good,” concluded Shongwe.

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