MEC Ntuli meets heads of law enforcement agencies in KZN to discuss the festive season intergrated law enforcement safety plan
As part of a series of engagements ahead of the festive season period, KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Transport, Community Safety and Liaison Bheki Ntuli convened a high-level meeting with all heads of law enforcement agencies in the province today, 07 December 2020, to discuss the implementation and roll-out plan of the festive season safety campaign.
During the meeting, MEC Ntuli said the Integrated Festive Season Safety Plan will only be meaningful to the people of KwaZulu-Natal through coordinated intelligence gathering efforts by law enforcement agencies and implementing solutions in areas particularly affected by violence.
“The meeting with all Heads of Law Enforcement Agencies is aimed at discussing and integrating our operational strategies based on sector policing in order to maximise police deployment in affected areas, otherwise known as hotspots, which forms part of the Festive Season Safety Plan. Our province is unique and has its own dynamics, some which are historical in nature. As this leadership, both political and administrative, we have the responsibility to provide solutions to the challenges that are facing our people and threatening their safety and security,” said MEC Ntuli.
MEC Ntuli said the alarming cases of murder, attempted murders, rape and other forms of contact crimes needs to be tackled head on.
“We cannot allow this province to continue to lead with murder, rape and all other forms of crime, including Gender-Based Violence. Most heinous crimes are happening during the weekends, in most cases liquor is the main motivating factor, therefore the enforcement plan we have put together needs to respond to this. Our focus will also be on the leading stations that are featuring in the nation statistics,” he said.
MEC Ntuli said some of the current issues that law enforcement is focusing on is the on-going anarchy involving truck drivers in the country.
“While we understand their grievances, but the accompanying violence must be condemned. the burning of trucks and attacks on drivers in our province is another major issue of concern for us, as it threatens to destabilise the logistics industry as well as our economy. The law and Criminal Justice System must ensure that the culprits who are orchestrators of such sabotage are harshly dealt with. Parallel to this, government will continue to engage with the truck drivers and all affected stakeholders to resolve outstanding issues,” said MEC Ntuli.
MEC Ntuli said among some of the crimes that the multi-disciplinary integrated festive season law enforcement plan will focus on includes Gender-Based Violence, taxi conflict, rock-throwing on highways, illegal public protests and sabotage of infrastructure, disruption of infrastructure projects and faction fights in rural areas.
“We need to raise the bar on law enforcement and crime intelligence needs to be sharp during the festive period. The Provincial Executive Council is discussing the possibility of closing the beaches during the festive season in order to curb the spread of Covid-19. However, the Executive Council will make a decision in this regard, because we need to balance the economic impact of closing beaches while ensuring that we save lives,” added MEC Ntuli.
Provincial Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Khombinkosi Jula said as a response to the current National Intelligence Estimate and the recently released crime statistics, specific operations will be implemented to reduce crime. The operations will be directed against identified crime categories such as contact crimes, including crime against women and children, trio crimes, cash-in-transit heist, illicit economy and transport-related crimes.
“We will be stepping up police visibility and securing our borders in and out of the province; these include, land, sea, air and inland borders. We will be clamping down on all forms of crime such as human trafficking, stock theft, taxi-related issues including taxi violence which remains problematic in some areas. We will be focusing on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide, in addition to visible policing efforts to proactively engage the community through social crime programmes we will be conducting raids for wanted and known suspects and ensure speedy completion of investigation for arrested suspects. Over 23 000 members will be on the ground during the festive season, we will be patrolling in the malls, public areas as well as focusing on areas where there is the proliferation of firearms," added Jula.
