Police Committee to visit PE on Monday to assess Police intervention in gang wars
The Portfolio Committee on Police will this coming Monday, 3 December, embark on a one-day oversight visit to Port Elizabeth (PE) in the Eastern Cape to assess the South African Police Service’s (SAPS’) efforts to address the escalating gang violence in the northern suburbs of the Nelson Mandela metropolitan area.
The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Police, Mr Francois Beukman, said that after receiving calls from several communities and leaders in the Eastern Cape about the growing gang violence and shootings in the northern section, the committee decided to make an unscheduled visit to the area.
“The committee is very concerned about violent crime patterns in certain areas and will use the visit to determine the root causes of the violence by talking with community leaders, residents, community policing forums (CPFs) and the various branches of the South African Police Service. The key to deal with gang violence is to ensure that affected communities become partners with the law-enforcement agencies, while socio-economic upliftment and job creation are the main driver of community empowerment,” Mr Beukman said.
The portfolio committee is very much in favour of the establishment of specialised units to deal with specific crimes and the roll-out of the anti-gang unit to metropolitan areas should form a key part of the SAPS strategy going forward. The committee will discuss the Eastern Cape police’s anti-gang capacity with the provincial Commissioner on Monday, as well as measures to ensure more support for the unit.
The Portfolio Committee supports the intention of the Minister of Police, Minister Bheki Cele, to re-establish murder and robbery units to deal with contact crimes in hot-spot areas. “We need highly trained members of Saps to deal with violent crime, which affects the quality of life of residents, and to ensure that perpetrators are brought to book,” Mr Beukman emphasised.
The committee will also interact with the specialised unit of the Directorate of Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks) on illegal fire-arms, to determine the Hawks’ plans to deal with the flow of illegal guns into the affected areas.
For media enquiries or interviews with the Chairperson, please contact the committee’s Media Officer:
Malatswa Molepo (Mr)
Tel: 021 403 8438
Cell: 081 512 7920
E-mail: mmolepo@parliament.gov.za
