Mpumalanga Community Safety, Security and Liaison MEC Vusi Shongwe praises all the role players involved in the Overall Friday campaign for the decreased incidences of crime in Ermelo over the weekend.
The Overall Friday campaign is an initiative by the province which involves stakeholders such as SAPS, provincial and local traffic officers, SARS and Department of Home Affairs to deal with all sorts of crime in identified problematic areas.
Activities include cordon and search, roadblocks, tracing of unwanted suspects and raiding of liquor outlets.
Police reports show that there were no serious crimes reported during the weekend, 12 to 14 April 2013 of the campaign in the vicinity of Ermelo. MEC Shongwe says the operation should be regarded as a success as it has impacted on the crime statistics in Ermelo.
During the campaign, 37 people were arrested for different violations including driving under the influence of liquor, possession of dagga, drinking alcohol in public, theft from motor vehicle, undocumented persons and a wanted suspect. Police also confiscated dagga, copper wire and a 9mm pistol. Police are also investigating two cases of stolen vehicles.
“Such operations will be the order of the day; we will prioritize all the problematic and no go areas with full for force in order to rid the province of criminality. We also need communities to assist the police to trace all wanted suspects; we want to make Mpumalanga the safest province in the country.
We believe with enhanced community participation and stakeholder participation in such initiatives the war against crime will be won,” said Shongwe.
Meanwhile, traffic officers have arrested 56 drivers for drunken driving, excessive speeding, reckless or negligent driving, overloading and false documentation between 8 and 14 April 2013 during operations that took place in the province. 2 740 fines were also issued for different traffic violations while 142 vehicles were discontinued and 220 were impounded.
These are routine operations of the department aimed at increasing visibility and to decrease road accidents and lawlessness in the province.
Enquiries:
Joseph Mabuza
Tel: 013 766 4055
Cell: 082 678 1450
